With decades of field birding, demonstrating optics, and selling telescopes, we realise just how important the tripod is to your viewing enjoyment, yet the choice of suitable support is at best confusing for customers and at worst an afterthought.

All tripods on the market are designed ostensibly for the photography market and many features which are suitable for cameras can be superfluous to telescope users and even downright inconvenient!

For the reasons above, we have come up with the Swallow tripod. A product of years of field frustration, personal experience, and customer feedback, we feel we’ve arrived at a tripod by birders for birders.

From the smooth fluid head for effortless, fiddle-free panning, to the secure, anti-twist, sliding quick-release plate, we’ve taken the best features of video tripod heads to give a frustration-free platform for your telescope – sturdy enough for even the larger objective lens models on the market.

For the legs, we have chosen aluminium for its balance of sturdiness, relatively low weight, and lower cost. Three-leg sections mean less time trying to secure the sections in position and more time observing birds!

A single locking collar allows quick height adjustment of the centre column if required and a spring-loaded hook allows for hanging a rucksack, weights or securing a guy cord if sea-watching in a gale.

We have gone for a low-profile (less likely to catch on anything) cam locking system to lock each leg at the desired height as most people find these to be more convenient and positive.

Where your tripod meets the ground, there are sturdy rubber stoppers which are threaded to spikes which can be retracted depending on the habitat. They come to a positive stop so are much more difficult to lose – another frustrating feature of many tripods!

Weighing in at 2.5kg, it is light enough to carry around your local reserve but solid enough to give your telescope the secure platform to make the most of the high magnification. Coming in at only £179.95 we believe this is a lot of tripods for the money.

Comes with a carry case and a 12-month warranty