A question I get asked a lot is “what binoculars would you recommend for wildlife watching?”. As questions go that’s a classic remix of the old “how long is a piece of string” missive. So much depends… on a wide range of variables.

I’ve covered many of the key things to look for in a great birding and wildife binocular in some depth before. That advice is even available as a short book on the topic. But what if you’re looking to fast-track the process, and just want solid recommendations of binoculars and spotting scopes that have been thoroughly tested and reviewed?

Tested, Reviewed and Recommended Binoculars and Spotting Scopes

Well, we’ve done a lot of the legwork for you. We’ve put together a collection of binoculars and spotting scopes that our team has personally tested and reviewed in the field, birding and wildlife watching on Ireland’s south coast.

Our Recommended Optics “Shop” is now live

We’re in the process of going through our reviews for birding and wildlife optics with “Recommended” and “Highly Recommended” ratings, and posting them to a brand new section of our online shop imaginatively named “Recommended Optics“.

Some of our recently recommended birding and wildlife optics

You’ll notice the word “Shop” in the title above is in quotes. That’s because our recommended optics category is a little bit different from a regular online store.

Ireland’s Wildlife is an information resource, not a retailer. We don’t hold stock and we don’t sell optics directly. However, we do frequently get requests for recommendations based on the binoculars and spotting scopes we’ve tested.

So, this section of our online shop offers a handy “jumping off point”. It assembles our recommended binoculars and scopes into one convenient location, with links to our impartial reviews, and offering a button that allows you to buy that product at a great price from another online merchant (in most cases that’s Amazon’s UK store, which also serves Ireland).

NB. when you click on the “Buy” button from our Recommended Optics section and go on to make a purchase, Ireland’s Wildlife receives a small commission (usually between 2%-3%) for the referral. The small amount of revenue this generates helps us to keep Ireland’s Wildlife up and running, bringing you wildlife articles, news, updates, reviews and other relevant content.

We’ll be adding more recommendations to our recommended optics category soon, so be sure to check back regularly, or keep an eye on our social media posts (@WildIreland / Ireland’s Wildlife) for updates.

Are you shopping for new binoculars or a spotting scope at the moment, or have you bought new optics recently? Tell us about your experience, and pass on any tips for other readers in the comments below.