ROHAN

TUNDRA JACKET £245 NEWCOUNTRY SHIRT £79

My clothing needs are not complicated. I am hardly the dedicated follower of fashion. All I want is comfortable clothing to keep me dry and warm, while being subdued in colour and rustle free. For the last few months, I have been taking a couple of upper layers from Rohan out on my birding trips, both of which fit my needs very well indeed. These are the Tundra Jacket and the Newcountry Shirt. The Tundra is a duck down and feather filled polyamide jacket in Ranger Green (also available in Ink Blue), just the sort of toned down green we birdwatchers love. It has a generous built-in hood and a couple of poppered pockets big enough for a Collins Bird Guide with hand warmer pockets behind them. Inside, there is a zipped ‘Packpocket’, so you can easily squidge the whole caboodle down to a packable ‘pillow’. In the field, it is about as warm a jacket as I have ever been birding with. It is not oppressive warmth, but comfortable, cosy, birdable warmth. Combine that with light weight (765g) and an almost complete absence of rustle and it is a pleasure to be out in the field with. Yes, you will need another waterproof layer if you intend to spend a lot of time out in the pouring rain, but this jacket is for keeping out the cold, wind and perhaps a snow fall or light shower. I love it. I may not be a fashion fan, but I still like to look ‘cool’… And the Newcountry Shirt is right up my street. It is a thick, reversible snap-poppered shirt (Ranger Green with an alternative checked tartan-like side), and is warm and windproof enough to be worn as a light outer jacket on top of a lighter layer. So, as Rohan say, it is four garments in one! It has a couple of breast pockets (on the green side side), one zippered. Rustle free and subdued in tone, this is my kind of birding gear. And it combines very nicely with the Tundra jacket for an extra level of comfort (and cool!).