Read on for an overview of the stock we sell at Waterston House. Please contact us for more info or visit us to view the full range. We've also recently launched an online shop selling artwork by some of the best wildlife artists in the UK, which you can view here.
Feed your feathered friends with our selection of Vine House Farm bird food. We stock a wide range to allow you to cater to the particular tastes of the birds visiting your garden, including sunflower hearts, mixed bird seed, fat balls, dried mealworms, nyjer seed and black sunflower hearts. You can take your pick from an extensive range of bird feeders (of the seed, peanut and anti-squirrel kind!) and care products from the Jacobi Jayne and Vine House Farm ranges, many of which can be viewed in action at our bird feeding station in the garden at Waterston House.
The shop stocks a wide range of resources for bird enthusiasts, whether an amateur or seasoned birdwatcher, including regional bird reports, Atlases, tide timetables and all-weather notebooks. Our hand-picked selection of identification and birdwatching guides are tried and tested by Club members, ensuring a quality array of titles are available to purchase, including Collins Bird Guide and the digital version of the Club’s award-winning publication, The Birds of Scotland.
Our unrivalled setting means visitors can try our optics range outdoors, in field conditions, with the aid of our viewing platform overlooking Aberlady Bay Local Nature Reserve. We stock a varied selection of optical equipment including binoculars, telescopes, monoculars, tripods and cleaning accessories from a hand-picked selection of the UK’s top optics brands, including Swarovski, Zeiss, RSPB, Viking and Hilkinson alongside several others. The equipment we stock has been chosen to cater for a variety of needs (and budgets!), whether you’re a traveller looking for a small pair of binoculars, or a glasses-wearer looking for tailored options. We also carry a small range of children’s binoculars, perfect for budding ‘Packhams’! Our staff will take the time to explain the different features of individual models and show you first-hand how to use and maintain your optics. With the aid of our expert, impartial advice, we’ll help you select the right equipment for you. 100% of the profits from our optics and other sales are invested back into the Club allowing us to continue our work watching over Scotland’s birds. In addition to the equipment available all year round, we also host two Optics Days throughout the year, usually in May and October. The date of the next Optics Day will be posted on our Events page as soon as it is available. Please note that if there isn’t a visible listing for Optics Day on this page, this means the dates have yet to be set and you should check back soon for more info. These events give you access to the latest models and the opportunity to chat to staff from Viking Optical for further expert advice.
A number of SOC-branded items are available to purchase including the Club’s Crested Tit pin badge, sweatshirts, hoodies, t-shirts, beanies and baseball caps. Contact us to find out more.
The Club is extremely fortunate to receive generous donations of natural history books and bird reports. Titles which duplicate what we have in the library already are offered for sale in our second-hand book shop at the centre, to raise funds for SOC. At the moment we’re busy re-stocking our selection of hand-picked titles to sell on the website, however we have hundreds of titles available to browse in the shop at Headquarters, so visit us to view the full range or contact us if there’s something in particular you’re after.
However, it’s not just birdwatchers who visit the centre: Waterston House is a Mecca for art lovers who come to enjoy our tranquil gallery space and the exhibitions that run throughout the year. The shop caters to this audience with a colourful and diverse range of wildlife art books, cards and prints from many of the UK’s top wildlife artists. We also carry a collection of hand-carved wooden birds, carved by Balinese craftsmen for the Archipelago range under fair trade conditions. These make for a lovely gift as do our Dunoon Ceramic mugs! For children we have a range of birdy playing cards and colouring in sets. We've also recently launched an online shop selling artwork by some of the UK's leading wildlife artists - you can find a link to this at the top of this page.
Page header image © Steve Cox
