Right, I've been asked this question about five times in the past month so I'm going to write it all out in one place. If you want to start monitoring the skies properly - not just casually looking up at night - here's what you actually need and roughly what it'll cost you.
The basics:
1. A decent telescope or binoculars (£50-150). Don't go mad, a 7x50 set of binoculars is perfect for beginners and will set you back about £80.
2. A camera with night vision capability (£200-600). A decent DSLR or mirrorless is worth it if you're serious.
3. A tripod that won't wobble (£40-80). Seriously, don't cheap out here. Shaky footage is useless.
4. A phone app for tracking aircraft and satellites - Sky View or Stellarium are free and essential for ruling out conventional explanations.
5. A notebook and pen (98p) - sounds daft but you need to record time, location, weather, direction, duration, any sounds, witnesses etc.
Location matters: You want somewhere with minimal light pollution and clear sight lines. If you're in a city, your local hill or park might work better than your garden. Peak District, Scottish Highlands, Bodmin Moor - these are goldmines.
Consistency: One night of monitoring means nothing. You need to establish a baseline - what's normal in your area? Aircraft patterns, satellites, stars. Then anomalies actually stand out. I'd suggest at least one night a week for three months before you start claiming you've found anything interesting.
