Exploring Nature Through the Lens: Tips for Using Spotting Scopes

A spotting scope is a fantastic tool for wildlife observation, providing a clear view of animals a long way off. Whether you’re a birdwatcher, amateur ecologist or wildlife enthusiast, you can gain detailed observations using the large lenses and powerful magnification offered by scopes. Here we offer expert advice on how to use a spotting scope for wildlife observation.

Consider the Light

When using scopes, it’s important to consider the direction light comes from and its intensity. Never look at the sun through a scope, as this focuses the light directly into your eye and could cause damage. 

At times when the sun is low, bear in mind how your subject is positioned. Looking towards the sun can also mean what you’re trying to see is silhouetted. Try to move to a better vantage point where the light is side-on or behind you. This will give you better detail and a more satisfying view.

A Tripod is Useful

If you’re using a magnification over 10x, stabilising the scope is essential. You can invest in a spotting scope tripod to do this, but any sturdy surface will also work. A car roof, soft backpack, or even a branch can help reduce shaking.

The benefits of a tripod include:

• Smooth panning: because scopes can pivot on a fixed point, tripods allow you to pan across a view to find your subject.
• Stable support: large scopes and binoculars can be heavy, and resting them on something that wasn’t designed to hold them requires holding at all times.

Magnify From Smallest To Largest

It’s best to start at the smallest magnification to find your subject in the scope. This gives you a wide field of view to search with, before zooming in to see detail.

Use Landmarks

In environments like woodland, open fields or coastlines, you’re often looking at many similar backgrounds. This can make it a challenge to find your subject in the scope. Use landmarks such as hedges or tree trunks to orient yourself. 

Looking with the naked eye, you should be able to map your subject as being, for example, 2m to the left of the big oak trunk. Then you can find the oak in your scope, and pan to the left to find your target.

Explore the Micro-scale

Some scopes have a small close focus range and can be used to inspect the small and intricate parts of our world as well as those that are distant. A close-up and detailed view of insects, moss or plants is a great alternative use for your optics because they let in so much light that you can get incredibly detailed images.

 If your scope or binoculars have a close focus range of less than 2m, you can use it this way. 

Set yourself a small distance from the subject, about the same distance as your CFR. Start with the smallest magnification and slowly zoom in to focus. 

A great scope that goes from distant to close-up is the Minox Monocular MS. This compact handheld monocular has 8x magnification and a close focus range of just 35cm. At just 220g, it’s a pocket-sized scope for entry-level optics, waterproof to IPX7.

Photographs made Easy

With smartphone cameras advancing with every generation, wildlife photography has become more accessible than ever. With a quality scope, you can position your camera lens against the eyepiece and capture brilliant long-lens images.

Experiment with settings on both phone and scope to find the right balance. The best scopes for using in this way have a large objective lens, greater than 50mm. This lets in plenty of light, even at full magnification.

Large Lens Scope from Sightmark

Exploring at Night with Thermal Scopes

Thermal scopes and monoculars can show wildlife presence in the dark, without light to disrupt or disturb nocturnal animals. Of course, thermal imaging only shows warm-blooded mammals, so no snakes or invertebrates will be visible. You can use thermal imagers to observe owls, bats, roosting birds, deer, foxes, badgers and more.

Here is some advice on the best use of handheld thermal imagers.

1. Experiment with settings. You should increase the image contrast or reduce the brightness to get a distinct image.
2. Scope with the same eye. Because of the bright display, the eye you use with your scope will lose dark vision quickly. Avoid swapping eyes so that you have one eye adjusted to the surrounding darkness.
3. Use a strap, such as a neck strap, to secure your scope. If you drop it, you may struggle to find it in the dark. You might also have other equipment to manage.
4. Take Pictures. Many models allow video and photo capture and transmit images by WiFi to your devices for review.
5. Carry spare battery units to extend observation sessions.
6. Cover any torches with a red filter to avoid disturbing wildlife.

The HikMicro Lynx 2.0 LH15 is a compact, lightweight thermal imager that can detect wildlife up to 750m away.

Practice Makes Progress

Whether you’re exploring in daylight or at night, remember that observing wildlife with scopes is easier with practice. Get to know your equipment by testing it out in different light conditions and over varying distances. There are plenty of options for serious nature enthusiasts to get a closer look at their non-human neighbours in our range of spotting scopes.