Get 2024 off to a flying start!

2 min read

READER HOLIDAY

NEW YEAR BIRDLIST BOOSTER

Sat 6 Jan to Sat 13 Jan 2024

Sat 13 Jan to Sat 20 Jan 2024

GUIDES/GROUP SIZE: Your guides will be highly experienced Heatherlea Leaders Holly Page and Aidan Branch (first departure), and Mike Coleman and Alex Rhodes (second departure). Maximum group size: seven per guide.

This Highlands holiday, run by birders for birders, is the perfect chance to get off to a flying start on your 2024 #My200BirdYear challenge!

One priority will be British speciality species best sought in the Highlands, and these Birdlist Booster tours specifically target Ptarmigan, Black Grouse, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Scottish Crossbill and Crested Tit (pictured above). You’ll also have outside chances of seeing increasingly rare Capercaillie. This holiday is perfect for all levels of birding ability, packing in a lot of birds and lots of sites. We’ll also seek a host of northern winter visitors and spend time concentrating on any available rarities; King Eider and Surf Scoter are regular winter visitors, and the unexpected can be expected! We estimate we will encounter about 120 species, including many ‘difficult’ birds you might otherwise miss without a guide, or struggle to locate further south in the UK.

What’s included

● Seven nights comfy accommodation at the 3* Mountview Hotel, Nethy Bridge. All rooms are en suite, there is no single supplement, and guests are never expected to share. Hotel is for exclusive use of tour participants.

● Full Scottish breakfast, a substantial packed lunch, and a delicious dinner each day.

● Six full days wildlife watching with Heatherlea guides.

● All transport by comfortable nine-seater minibus.

● Achecklist specifically prepared for your holiday to record your sightings and notes.

● Courtesy transfer service to/from Aviemore train station.

WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED:

● Travel to The Mountview Hotel.

● Insurance, drinks and other items of a personal nature.

All holidays are hosted by Heatherlea, one of Britain’s leading birding tour companies, based at the three-star Mountview Hotel, in Nethy Bridge. You’ll spend time in the adjacent Caledonian pinewoods of Abernethy Forest fo

This article is from...

Bird Watching Magazine

28 September 2023

BBC Countryfile Magazine

Walk the old way

The wind whips over the wide fields and a flock of starlings skitters across the sky, tumbling in the gusts. We lean into the weather, eyes stinging and cheeks burning. A few moments later, the squall

BBC Wildlife Magazine

On thehunt

S ince 2009, Amy Dickman has come across some horrific sights on the edge of Ruaha National Park in Central Tanzania where she studies, and tries to resolve, conflict between people and predators. The

Practical Fishkeeping

Fishkeepinganswers

I am setting up a 300 l/66 gal tank for discus. Please could you recommend some plants that would be suitable for this set-up, bearing in mind the higher temperature required by discus? VAL SYKES JERE

The Great Outdoors

Wild walks

Our walks this month 1 Muckle Roe Shetland ...

Trail

Through the magic valley

Isolated CWM PENNANT has been called ‘the most beautiful valley in Wales’. We tackle its 12-mile length in search of its secrets: ruined quarries, a fabled bothy, a giant waterwheel hidden in the hills and atmospheric wild camp spots, all in the shadow of the dramatic Nantlle Ridge.