Author: Adam Hampton

Mycology shortlist: Everything you need to know as a budding mycologist

Mushrooms have always been on the fringes of both the web of life and science in general, existing in the brackets between plant and animal in the minds of many. The Kingdom Fungi has, much like its constituents, rarely burst out into the light from the dark corners of popular science, that is, until recently. The last few years have seen Fungi of all forms thrust to the forefront of popular literature and medical research, which has generated a wave of renewed interest in the big questions around our mycelial cousins (after all they are eukaryotic cells just as we are). Where do they live, what can they do for us? And how can modern science get under the bonnet (pun intended) of these elusive but ultimately extremely important organisms? 

If this surge in interest has managed to pass you by, or if you are already a budding (pun also intended) enthusiast, then this non-exhaustive, short-list of books will bring you up to date on the history and present knowledge of mushrooms and touch on the cultural importance of these diverse eukaryotes. 

Fantastic Fungi – Paul Stamets and other contributors

How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness & Save the Planet

Fantastic Fungi book cover showing little brown mushrooms growing out of a log.No list of mushroom focussed literature would be complete without mentioning one of the most influential figures in modern mushroom science, Paul Stamets, in cohort with some of the eminent minds of modern mushroom science and opinion. This book, which accompanies the Netflix documentary of the same name, covers many of the same topics but presents them in an accessible way with full referencing should you wish to take the topic further and research in your own time. The book covers a full complement of topics, ranging from the concept of a wood wide web of interconnected trees and fungal partners, to how chemical science can harness the unique biological properties of a range of mushroom species to give us vital and useful medicines, remedial chemistries, and solutions to some of our most pressing issues in modern life including national security, combatting bioweaponry, and pollution solutions on a global scale. Each page is accompanied by rich and detailed macro–photography characterising some of the unique and beautiful forms of these organisms and will leave a distinct impression that there is a whole world out there still waiting to be explored. The book closes with a dive into the what ifs that surround looking at the world with a mycelial lens and posits some interesting theories on the very sources of human existence and our co-evolution with mushrooms itself. 

In Search of Mycotopia – Doug Bierend  

Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms

In Search of Mycotopia cover showing a grey drawing of mushrooms on a black background with luminous yellow text showing the book title.Hailed as ‘a natural sequel’ to Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life. In Search of Mycotopia occupies very much the same area in most people’s libraries. An in depth and developed look beneath the often-elusive veil of the field of mycology and all its intricacies, this book takes a human–centric approach to the social side of the recent explosion in citizen mushroom science and how its these people that are driving development in this field before the lumbering pharma giants are able to gain a foothold. Focussing on the open-source nature of how modern mushroom research is conducted, it covers a range of topics that may be familiar to those already interested in this field but is also highly accessible to those who have not been introduced to this dynamic and interesting world. There is more nuance to the way that questions are asked around the great potential and almost utopic ideas that are posited in other mushroom literature, but this does not make this book any less inspiring or interesting and is a great hopping on point for the first stop on the mycelium express. 

Entangled Life and Entangled Life (Illustrated Edition) – Merlin Sheldrake 

How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

Entangled Life book cover showing an array of different species of mushroom in bright colours on a black background, with reviews of the book surrounding this central image.

Entangled Life is a colourful journey through one Merlin Sheldrake’s experiences with mushrooms and the niches which they occupy in everyday life. He adopts a ‘mushroom first’ perspective while investigating the reasons why mushrooms behave and perform in the way that they do, first leading with the ‘how’s,’ before following up with the ‘whys.’ Whether this is in a commercial, foraging, or clinical setting, seemingly the mycelium themselves posit the questions surrounding their unique biology and Merlin seeks to draw out answers and clarify what makes them so special to both us and the planet. He also leans on the cultural aspects of mycology and helps clarify just how important mushrooms have been in our history and are likely to be in our future. This is an excellent book for those who want to build a strong foundation of knowledge for modern mushroom science but is also great for those who want to take a slightly deeper dive into the bigger questions surrounding mycology. The new illustrated edition is a pared-down version of the full-text version and instead replaces some of the larger passages of text with high quality macro photographs that are described in such rich detail in the original text. It is an exquisite graphic accompaniment to the original book. 

Hawke Digi-Scope Smart Phone Adapter

Hawke DIGI-SCOPE SMART PHONE ADAPTER with a binocular lens attached being used to take a photograph of a black and white bird in the grass.

Getting into nature photography can be a daunting prospect. What camera do you buy? Which lenses do you choose, and what size should they be? How much should you spend? These are all questions that require a good bit of thought, and rightly so. However, what if you wanted to dip your toe in at the shallow end and use equipment that you may already have lying around to take decent photos at a fraction of the price? That’s precisely where the Hawke Digi-Scope Smart Phone Adapter comes in. I decided to put it to the test by taking images of local wildlife at a variety of ranges with two of Hawke’s spotting scopes and a pair of Kite binoculars. To do this, I used the Hawke Nature-Trek 20–60 × 80 and the Nature-Trek 13–39 × 56 scopes, and a pair of Kite Ursus 8 × 32 binoculars. 

Hawke have established a name for themselves as producing reliable and rugged optics for the entry to mid-level markets and this optical adapter fits nicely into that niche, giving anyone with an optical device the option to transform their optics into a camera lens, when combined with a smartphone camera. 

Out of the box – first impressions 

The adapter comes packaged with a small instruction manual and some small foam sticky pads to place around the aperture clamp and prevent damage to the ocular lens of the optics you are using. Made from lightweight ABS plastic, the adapter feels light in the hand but not fragile. Stated compatibility on the box is for eyepieces 23–50mm in diameter, so make sure that the optics you plan to use meet these specifications. There is also a minimum and maximum size for compatible phones (width 66–95mm), but most currently produced models should fit fine.

Front and back of the black scope phone attachment.

Ease of use  

The adapter is a simple piece of kit that is designed to fit around the ocular lens of a spotting scope, microscope, telescope or, most commonly, a pair of binoculars. The spring-loaded clamp then allows you to place your phones rear camera to the eyepiece and align them, in essence creating an inexpensive camera and physical lens arrangement. This will then allow your smartphone to take photos at ranges that the vast majority of devices on the market wouldn’t be capable of. Getting this alignment right can be quite fiddly but once found, the adapter holds fast, and the point of focus doesn’t drift. It’s important to try to remember to reduce/disable the auto focussing on the device as this can be at odds with the manual focus of the scope itself. Likewise, make sure to zoom the phone camera slightly to avoid giving a ‘scoped’ view to your photos, with a circular black border (see below).

Photograph taken through the scope attached to a phone of some ducks in a garden with a black ring around it in the shape of the lens. Photograph taken through the scope attached to a phone of some ducks in a garden without a black ring the shape of the lens around it, focused nicely and closely on the ducks.

In the field 

Testing the adapter involved setting it up on the window ledge of a bird hide and using it while combing along the River Dart, allowing tests over variable distances to look and capture at different focus points and ranges. I often found that target acquisition with the scopes was a bit of a lesson in trial and error as any hand movement through high magnification lenses will be exacerbated massively through the screen. However, this will be greatly reduced by using a lesser magnification or a stabilising structure such as a tripod (or a handy fence post). The use of a phone in this case proved crucial as the post- processing from the device helped to mute the amount of disturbance to the final image from this unavoidable shaking. While there was some aberration introduced to the final photos, it didn’t mar the result too much or overly distract from the images (see below). 

Photo of a mallard duck swimming on the river by some reeds taken through the Hawke smartphone adapter. Photo of a duck flapping its wings and splashing on the river by some reeds with a vignette image border taken through the Hawke smartphone adapter.

Using the adapter with a pair of binoculars was where the Hawke Digi-Scope really shone. Quick to acquire and quick to capture, the photos produced were, in my opinion, superb, making this an ideal tool for an enthusiast beginning their journey into nature photography. (see images below) 

Zoomed in photograph of a squirrel on a grey and red roof. Photograph of a crow on some grass which is scattered in autumn leaves.

While the adapter itself is a lightweight bit of kit, whatever you mount within it will add weight to the back of your optics and upset any built-in centre of balance – much as I found out when, after attaching the phone, the scope made a determined attempt at see-sawing off the bird-hide window ledge. When not attached to the optics, however, the adapter is small and portable, fitting easily into a pocket without any discernible bulk or weight. 

Taking pictures with the adapter was as simple as hitting the camera button on the phone and snapping away, making sure to adjust the focus using the scope/binoculars as needed (this took a bit of practice to get used to). I didn’t manage to get any images of animals moving at great speed (something a dedicated nature photography camera would have no issues doing) while using the scopes, as acquiring and holding onto the target while also focusing using the scope lent itself to more stationary birds (see image 9). The binoculars, on the other hand, were great for reactive type photography, albeit at much reduced ranges (e.g. image 10). 

Photograph of a brown duck standing on one leg scratching the underside of its wing with its beak stood on a log taken through a lens.
Image 9
Motion photograph of a crow taking off in flight from a patch of grass scattered in autumn leaves.
Image 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions

While using the Hawke Digi-Scope, it is important to remember that the phone you use, the post processing that it does, and the settings you enable will all modulate the end result in some way, and this is an unavoidable part of using your phone to take images with a non-attached magnification device. Unlike an expensive camera with light meters and other tools, this setup will never quite produce a true to life image with no introduced imperfections.  

In terms of optics, the scopes performed well and were great in their own right; however, both the models I used were technically 1–2mm over the maximum specified eyepiece diameter. This was surprising as the mount seemed to fit fine (a little snug if anything), but also surprising as it begs the question as to why this adapter doesn’t fit the full range of Hawke products. This was not an issue with the binoculars as they have a much smaller ocular aperture. 

It is just as important to stress this wasn’t a test of the optics used but rather the adapter itself and, in that role, it performed very well. It held the phone securely and the rubberised touch points prevented slippage, keeping both the scope and phone lenses aligned. But, as stated before, this was a bit of a fiddly procedure.  

I do think that this adapter helps to bridge the gap between the more professional nature photography market and the more casual enthusiast who wishes to go and get some decent photos of what’s living in the area around them, and it will help to extend the reach of the average person’s smartphone camera by quite a distance. The speed of setup and lack of any frills really helps to make this adapter a portable, reliable workhorse or a spur of the moment image capturing tool. If you’re looking for an inexpensive bit of kit to add to your usual birding/hiking/survey gear alongside your pick of optics, this is the adapter for you.  

The Hawke Digi-Scope Smart Phone Adapter is available at www.nhbs.com/digi-scope