Donation of Adventurer II WP 15-45x60 spotting scope and Savanna R PC 10x33 binoculars to Thomas Susca, who has been a recurve archer since the age of 8.He has been competing at regional and national level since 2016 and has won a number of local and regional titles. He has been Archery GB Junior National Outdoor Champion 4 times and Junior National Indoor Champion on two occasions. An interesting fact about Thomas is that at 14 he is 6' 4" tall and shoots a recurve bow with 51.5lbs on his fingers. His draw length is 34" and he shoots a 35" arrow!
Thomas represented Great Britain at international level at the European Youth Cup in Rovereto, Italy and at the European Youth Championships in Patras, Greece where he won a bronze medal with the cadet men's team. He was selected to represent Great Britain in Slovenia in May 2019.
Sponsorship of Archery GB national team member Sarah Bettles. We supplied Sarah with an Adventurer II WP 15-45x60 spotting scope.
Donation of a box of twenty five 8x21 compact binoculars to the South East Wales Rivers Trust for its education outreach programme. Project officer Gareth Edge explained: "The project focusses on three main areas. Education – re-engaging the local primary schools within the catchment through a series of educational workshops. Community engagement – working with local communities to protect and conserve the riparian habitats and wildfire on the catchment. Thirdly, the environment surveying and monitoring for pollution and invasive species.
I currently work closely with Bedlinog and Trelewis Primary schools, both at the schools and the pupils visiting the catchment. I take groups of up to thirty on a workshop called River Bird Magic identifying the river birds."
Donation of Discovery WP PC 8x32 binocular to Birders Against Wildlife Crime to use as a raffle prize for fund raising. BBC Wildlife presenter Iolo Williams was at the event in January.
Donation of three T4 Trailfinder 8x42 binoculars and an Adventurer II WP 15-45x60 spotting scope for use by the Wildlife Exposed YouTube channel.
Donation of a number of used and ex-demonstration binoculars for education and outreach programmes in Colombia run by the organisers of the Colombia Birdfair. The organisers supplied the video clip below from a local news programme that covered the event.
"Thanks to the support of Opticron, we carried out various activities with children in the city, including five bird watching outings using the binoculars you donated."
Donation of a box of twenty five WT 8x21 compact binoculars and three IS 70 R spotting scopes with Universal II Hide Mounts for use in outreach and education work by the Rutland Osprey Project.
Education Officer Ken Davies sent us a note: "So thrilled to find the box at our Training Centre on Monday morning! Thank you for including the clamps as well – just perfect for the hides we use for school groups. Our first ‘Osprey Club’ is in early April (and monthly thereafter) and we will be using everything regularly throughout the season, especially in June and July and then for the Bespolka Summer Schools in late July and August."
They kindly sent us a report about how the project went - click here to download a PDF copy of the report (all photos by Pete Murray).
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We helped Birdgirl (Mya-Rose Craig) with her Black2Nature project by making a donation from the Bristol Ornithological Club go that bit further. We supplied more than 20 discounted Savanna R PC 8x33 binoculars and several IS 70 R scopes for outreach and education programmes which focus on engaging Visible Minority Ethnic children and young people with nature and the environment.
Mya-Rose commented: "The ability to buy a larger number of optics will make a huge difference to those who attend Black2Nature's camps".
We recently added a few new names to our list of sponsored Andalucian tour guides.
Álvaro de las Heras is the owner and main guide of the birdwatching company O-Live EcoBirding and a member of the Spanish Bird Guide Association. Álvaro has been a long time user of the ES 80 GA ED fieldscope and works mainly in the provinces of Cadiz and Malaga. He also runs O-Live Medioambiente, an NGO which works for the conservation of biodiversity, applied research, sustainable development and environmental education in the surroundings of Sierra de Grazalema and Alcornocales Natural Parks in Spain. This year we supplied a number of T4 Trailfinder 10x42 binoculars for use by those joining his tours as well as a DBA VHD 10x42 binocular and MM4 60 ED travelscope for Álvaro to use whilst guiding.
Another guide that we have sponsored is Sergio González Asián of Living Doñana. Sergio is now using the HR 66 ED fieldscope and has half a dozen Savanna R PC 8x33 binoculars for clients to use on the various tours he runs.
Vicent Esteller runs Doñana Wings which offers tours in Seville and the nearby National Park. Vicent worked with one of Opticron's dealers in Spain, Oryx and is now using an ES 80 fieldscope and has a number of Oregon 4 LE binoculars for use by his clients.
We helped out Juan Carlos Poveda at Natureda by adding six Adventurer II WP 10x42 binoculars to his kit list. He now offers tours to Morroco and Turkey.
The University of Glasgow sent a group of students to Iceland and they needed optics to help in their research.
We donated four T4 Trailfinder 10x42 binoculars and an MM4 60 scope plus Velbon Sherpa 200 tripod and USM-2 smartphone digiscopng adapter. Here's what the team said about the binoculars: "The T4 Trailfinder WP Binoculars were a joy to use on our Iceland expedition! Our team, comprised of six students from the University of Glasgow, carried out a series of research projects on the eastern edge of east Iceland. One of such projects involved the continuation of a long-term kittiwake and fulmar nest count. The Trailfinders were perfectly suited to scanning the towering and busy cliffs thanks to their impressive field of view. The challenge is to count the nests without constantly getting lost in the hectic mosaic of perching seabirds, but with a large field of view, this thankfully becomes far more manageable".
We supplied fifteen 8x21 compact binoculars to the Friends of Nant Llwynog Park for their Youth Project.
The Galapagos Conservation Trust were given a Savanna R PC 8x33 binocular to use as a prize in their annual photography competition.
National Trust ranger Richard Webster was supplied with an Imagic BGA VHD 10x42 binocular, Gallery Scope 8x20 and metal loupe magnifiers to support some conservation work on a trip to Nepal. This is why he was keen to have the equipment: "A contribution from Opticron will aid me greatly in documenting a hugely important gathering of international colleagues when I am in Nepal. It will be an incredible networking event, one I seriously hope to come away from with a number of international connections from my time spent there. I hope to be able to share with my colleagues from all over the world the generosity of Opticron, and give them the opportunity to see for themselves the high quality of product you produce when out surveying, on safari and studying various flora and fauna close to where we are to be staying for the duration.
Upon my return to the UK, the equipment I have requested will prove invaluable in aiding my colleagues, our volunteers, the general public and myself in monitoring wildlife, completing crucial tree safety management procedures and to help with identifying the wide variety of flora and fauna that can be found within our Cheshire & Wirral properties".
Sponsorship of young Welsh archer, Amelia Thomas. We supplied a T4 Trailfinder 10x42 binocular. As noted by the father of another young archer: "At the European 3D Championships in Sweden [in early 2019] she came an astounding 5th place in the womens senior category beating ex-champions along the way. What is truly remarkable is that she did this at the tender age of just 13!"
Sponsorship of junior archer Monty Orton.
Monty started shooting at 13 after his younger brother introduced him to the sport. He is now 15 and has already won many titles across the country. He is currently the Archery GB U16 Recurve Gent National Champion and has represented England twice in Home Nations winning teams. Most recently he finished 4th in Individuals at the AGB Youth Festival and also brought home Silver in the Recurve Cadet Men Team. His current bow is affectionately and well known as “The Pink Panther”.