SHETLAND & FAIR ISLE - Autumn Migration
September 23rd - 30th 2010
A second visit of the year to Shetland and Fair Isle where our efforts will be concentrated on finding the scarcities and rarities that are on mainland Shetland and Fair Isle at the time. We’ll particularly hope for species such as Fair Isle specialities Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler and Paddyfield Warbler but with favourable weather conditions almost anything could turn up. We’ll spend 2 nights in the brand new Fair Isle Bird Observatory, 3 nights on mainland Shetland and 2 nights at sea from Aberdeen to Lerwick and back. Because of the unpredictability of migration and rare birds it’s impossible to predict what we’ll see but we can expect a good number of scarce passerines and perhaps seabirds. Fair Isle has recorded over 370 different species over the years including no less than 27 firsts for Britain.

Tour cost £1,149 SS £140

ISLES OF SCILLY
October 6th - 13th 2010
The beautiful Scillies are the place to be at this period of the autumn as weather systems usually bring waifs and strays to the islands from the east and the west. Anything can and usually does turn up and even in a quiet year birds such as Firecrest, Wryneck, Common Rosefinch, Short toed Lark, Rose coloured Starling, Yellow browed Warbler, Richards Pipit, Woodlark, Lapland Bunting, Red backed Shrike and Red breasted Flycatcher are the norm. You can’t predict rarities but over the years we’ve had great birds that have included Eye browed Thrush, Upland Sandpiper, Rustic Bunting, Rose breasted Grosbeak, Black Duck, American Buff bellied Pipit, Black and White Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Red eyed Vireo, Bobolink, Common Yellowthroat, American Golden Plover, American Robin and Cream coloured Courser to name a few.

Tour cost of £849 SS £80

HUNGARY - Autumn Crane Spectacular
October 6th - 13th 2010
An excellent 2 centre tour when we spend time in the Bukk Hills and on the fabulous Hortobagy Plain. The list of great birds to see is long and for many the highlight will be thousands upon thousands of trumpeting Common Cranes coming into roost in the evenings. However, other species that we’ll enjoy will be Great Bustard, Eastern Imperial Eagle, White tailed Eagle, Saker, Pygmy Cormorant, Ferruginous Duck, Penduline Tit, Rough legged and Long legged Buzzards and Woodpeckers should include Grey headed, White backed, Black, Syrian, Middle spotted and Lesser spotted. There’ll be a good supporting cast of Goshawk, Hawfinch, Crossbill and Dotterel amongst other species and on previous tours we’ve also seen Wallcreeper as well as Red breasted, Lesser white fronted and Tundra Bean Geese.

Tour cost £1,049 SS £140.

AUSTRALIA - The East Coast & Tasmania
October 27th - November 16th 2010
A truly exceptional birding tour down under will yield in excess of 300 species as we visit many sites along the eastern seaboard and Tasmania. We spend time in Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney and Tasmania in search of the best birds as well as other fascinating and unique wildlife. The staggering list of bird species should include Rainbow Bee Eater, Pacific Baza, Noisy Pitta, Eastern Whipbird, Victoria’s Riflebird, Albert’s Lyrebird, Superb Lyrebird, Pied Imperial Pigeon, King Parrot, Buff breasted Paradise Kingfisher, Great Bowerbird, Green Catbird, Masked Owl, Lemon bellied Flycatcher, Golden Whistler, Great Knot, Wompoo Fruit Dove, Red necked Crake, Double eyed Fig Parrot, Red backed Fairy Wren, Emerald Dove, Brolga, Sarus Crane, Blue winged and Laughing Kookaburras, Australian Bustard, Olive backed Sunbird, Macleay’s Honeyeater, White winged Chough, Black Falcon, Hoary headed Grebe and Forty spotted Pardalote to name a few. We’ll also enjoy a selection of seabirds on a day long pelagic that’ll include a few different Albatross, Shearwaters and Petrels. As well as the birds there’ll be good numbers of mammals including Platypus, numerous Kangaroos, Koala and maybe a cetacean or two.

Tour cost £3,995 SS £350.

NORTH WEST BIRD FAIR at MARTIN MERE WWT
November 20th - 21st 2010
We’ll be at the North west Birdwatching Festival as usual, when you can talk to us about, or book on any of our tours.

MULL & ISLAY
November 28th - December 4th 2010
A 7 day / 6 night visit to these 2 islands off the western coast of Scotland will produce some great birds that’ll include White tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier, Chough, Great Northern Diver, Twite, Snow Bunting, Black Guillemot, Slavonian Grebe, Red throated Diver, Hooded Crow, Black throated Diver, Raven, Long tailed Duck, Purple Sandpiper, Scaup, Common Scoter and Merlin. There’ll also be huge numbers of Barnacle Geese and Greenland White fronted Geese and these may flocks may well have the odd rare straggler such as a ‘wild’ Canada Goose or a Snow Goose – we’ve seen both on previous trips. We should also see the odd flock of Brent Geese and Greylags too. There’s also a good chance of a scarcity or two and we usually find Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull and on previous tours we have also seen Smew, Ring necked Duck, Ferruginous Duck and en route we may visits sites good for Black Grouse and Red Kite.

Tour cost £679 SS £60.

FLORIDA USA - Winter Birding in the Sunshine State
January 5th - 19th 2011
Our 15th visit to the ‘sunshine state’ in the southern USA will, as usual, have 3 separate bases enabling us to visit many different sites in the centre of the state, on the Atlantic coast, the Gulf coast and the Everglades NP. A visit to Florida at this time of year is a great way to break up the cold and wet British winter and enjoy some welcome sunshine and exceptional birding. We’d usually expect between 160 – 170 different species on this excellent tour and these include specialities such as Limpkin, Florida Scrub Jay, Short tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Burrowing Owl, Florida Mottled Duck, Red cockaded Woodpecker, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Snail Kite, Bald Eagle, White Ibis, Whooping Crane, Painted Bunting, Reddish Egret, Piping Plover, Wilson’s Plover, Snowy Plover, Marbled Godwit, Anhinga, Brown Pelican, American White Pelican, Lesser Nighthawk, American Black Skimmer, Long billed Curlew and Scissor tailed Flycatcher to name a few. The supporting cast of great birds will include a selection of warblers that usually features Palm, Yellow rumped, Magnolia, Northern Parula, American Redstart, Black and White, Yellow throated, Black throated Green and Ovenbird with other regular passerines being White eyed and Blue headed Vireos, Carolina Wren, Great crested Flycatcher and Tufted Titmouse. There’ll be a vast array of wetland species too with thousands of herons, egrets and waders too.

Tour cost £1,899 SS £200.

WINTER WADER IDENTIFICATION WEEKEND
January 22nd - 23rd 2011
Another of our popular identification weekends based on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire will show you how to confidently identify waders in non breeding or winter plumage using plumage, size and structure, behaviour and habitat. Waders can be difficult to identify but there are many ways to make it easier and on this weekend course you’ll learn how. We’ll spend 2 full days in the field on the Ribble and Wyre Estuaries with an evening slideshow to reinforce what’s been learnt in the field. You’ll go home having no problem in separating Black and Bar tailed Godwits, telling Dunlin from Knot, Curlew from Whimbrel or Redshank from Spotted Redshank or Greenshank. As well as studying waders there’s likely to be other birds to see such as Barn Owl, Hen Harrier, Mediterranean Gull and perhaps Bittern on this excellent weekend.

Weekend cost £139 SS £15

BULGARIA - Winter on the Black Sea Coast
January 25th - February 1st 2011
On this great tour we’ll explore 2 of the most important wetlands in Europe for wintering wildfowl where a highlight will be the huge flocks of thousands of Red breasted and White fronted Geese with smaller numbers of Lesser White fronted Geese. There’ll also be a good selection of raptors to enjoy and these will include White tailed Eagle, Long legged Buzzard, Rough legged Buzzard, Peregrine and Merlin with a chance of Saker and Greater Spotted Eagle too. There’ll be many other excellent birds to enjoy and amongst them we should see White headed Duck, Pallas’s Gull, Eagle Owl, Pygmy Cormorant, Syrian Woodpecker, Calandra Lark, Dalmation Pelican, White Pelican, Slender billed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Bittern, Bearded Tit, Red necked Grebe and possibly Wallcreeper. Amongst the sites that we’ll visit are the Bourgas Wetlands, coastal Dobroudzha, the Batova and Kamchia riverine forests and the Kaliakra Cape and Headland.

Tour cost £1,049 SS £120.

NORTH NORFOLK COAST
February 3rd - 8th 2011
A 6 day / 5 night winter tour to the fabulous North Norfolk coast will have many avian highlights including huge flocks of Geese of maybe 10 different species along with gems such as Shore Lark, Snow Bunting, Golden Pheasant, Hen Harrier, Red necked Grebe, Twite, Barn Owl, Bearded Tit, Bittern, Spotted Redshank, Avocet, Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Cetti’s Warbler, Hawfinch, Smew, Purple Sandpiper, Velvet Scoter and Long tailed Duck. There’s usually something a bit more special about too and we can expect the odd scarcity such as Waxwing, Glaucous or Iceland Gull or even Arctic Redpoll on our visit.

Tour cost £729 SS £60.

GHANA - Upper Guinea Rainforest & Savannah Special
February 13th - March 2nd 2011
This is a truly stunning 18 day birding tour with day after day filled with numerous incredible and highly sought after birds. Ghana covers a variety of habitats from coastal wetland lagoons and saltpans on the Gold Coast to primary Guinea tropical rainforest where the world famous Kakum canopy walkway is found. We can expect about 400 different species as we visit these different sites and habitats. Amongst them gems that should include Yellow headed Picathartes, Black Dwarf Hornbill, Grey Hornbill, Violet and Green Turacos, Rosy and Swallow tailed Bee Eaters, Blue bellied and Rufous crowned Rollers, Barred Owlet, Copper Sunbird, Flappet Lark, Blue spotted Wood Dove, Green Hylia, Violet backed Hyliota, Sabines Puffback, Yellowbill, Little, Ushers and Shrike Flycatchers, Grey headed, White breasted and Chestnut breasted Negrofinches, Sharpes Apalis, Preuss’s Golden backed Weaver, Palm Nut Vulture, Congo Serpent Eagle, Black Sparrowhawk, Brown Nightjar, Frasers Eagle Owl, Pel’s Fishing Owl, Red chested Goshawk, Fire bellied Woodpecker, Western Bluebill, Hartlaubs Duck, African Finfoot, Forbes Plover, Egyptian Plover, Four banded Sandgrouse, White headed Woodhoopoe, Narinas Trogon, Red billed Dwarf, Brown cheeked and White crested Hornbills and Red thighed Sparrowhawk to name but a few !! We use the very best Ghana bird guides on this tour.

Tour cost £2,899 SS £250.

SRI LANKA - Malkohas, Hornbills and Leopards
March 8th - 24th 2011
Sri Lanka is an island that lies off the southern tip of India that is a naturalists dream with endemic birds and butterflies galore along with a great selection of sought after mammals. We can expect about 225 species of birds on our 17 day tour that will take in the best of these when we visit sites such as Sinharaja and Kitulgala lowland rainforests where we’ll find endemics such as SL Myna, Green billed Coucal, SL Spurfowl, SL Blue Magpie, Spot winged Thrush, Scaly Thrush, White faced Starling, Brown capped Babbler and Red faced Malkoha. We should find at least 20 of the 33 endemics here and hopefully the newly discovered Serendib Scops Owl will be amongst them. The Udawalawe National Park is probably the best place to see herds of wild Elephants and the Yala National Park has a remarkable density of Leopards. There are also Sloth Bears here and of course birds such as Painted Stork, Black necked Stork, Lesser Whistling Teal, Little Green Bee Eater, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Blue faced Malkoha, Indian and Greater Thick Knees, Sirkeer Malkoha, Black headed Ibis, Indian Pitta, Brahminy Myna and Rosy Starling. In the Horton Plains National Park birds will include Yellow eared Bulbul, SL Bush Warbler, SL Wood Pigeon, SL White Eye, Dull Blue Flycatcher and with luck the scarce montane endemic SL Whistling Thrush. Other species likely here are Indian Blue Robin, Pacific Swallow, Zitting Cisticola, Mountain Hawk Eagle, Crested Goshawk and Indian Pied Bush Chat. At other sites birds will include Kashmir Flycatcher, SL Grey Hornbill, Large Cuckoo Shrike, Coppersmith Barbet, Orange headed Thrush, Shahin, Stork billed Kingfisher, Blue eared Kingfisher, Purple Sunbird, Asian Paradise Flycatcher and White rumped Shama. Butterflies will be numerous on this tour and expected species include the Common Line Blue, Indian Dart, The Clipper, Common Banded Awl, Indian Fritillary, Ceylon Tiger, Common Banded Demon, Zebra Blue, Monkey Puzzle, Plain Cupid, Peacock Blue, Red spot Duke, Spot Sword Tail and the Common Shot Silverline.

Tour cost £2,845 SS £250.

SCOTLAND - Speyside, the Highlands & Beyond
March 28th - April 3rd 2011
We’ll be targeting all the resident Scottish specialities on this 7 day / 6 night tour along with one or two of the early summer arrivals. We’ll spend time in the Highlands, on Speyside and on the West Coast as we enjoy great birds such as Capercaillie, Ptarmigan, Crested Tit, Black Grouse, Golden Eagle, White tailed Eagle, Great Northern Diver, Black throated Diver, Red throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe, Hen Harrier, Snow Bunting, Red Kite, Ring Ouzel, Peregrine and Osprey. We’ll also hope for Scottish Crossbill and Hawfinch too with other possibilities including Red necked Grebe, Surf Scoter and Long tailed Duck. There’ll be mammals as well with a great chance of Otter, Red Squirrel, Badger and Pine Marten.

Tour cost £699 SS £60.

TEXAS COAST - Spring Migration
April 5th - 19th 2011
An excellent 2 week trip to the ‘Lone Star’ State is timed to coincide with the fantastic spring migration along the Gulf coast. Sites such as High Island, Bolivar Flats, Port Aransas, Aransas NWR and South Padre Island will produce a mass of migrating species and a few days along the Rio Grande will produce a nice selection of essentially Mexican species. At the coast we’ll enjoy warblers and waders galore. The warblers could number in excess of 25 species and as well as the numerous guaranteed common species we’ll hope for gems such as Blackburnian, Cerulean, Cape May, Chestnut-sided and Golden winged Warblers – all seen on recent tours. There’ll be huge flocks of arctic bound wader flocks with great species such as Wilson’s and Piping Plovers, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Short billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Marbled Godwit, Long billed Curlew, American Avocet, Stilt Sandpiper, Upland Sandpiper and Wilson’s Phalarope. Along the Rio Grande our target species will include Greater Roadrunner, Altamira and Hooded Orioles, Least Grebe, Green Jay, Olive Sparrow, Clay coloured Robin, Ringed Kingfisher, Ladder backed and Golden fronted Woodpeckers, Couch’s Kingbird, Black crested Titmouse, Cactus Wren, Black throated Sparrow and Curve billed Thrasher.

Tour cost £1,899 SS £200.

BELARUS - Birding in Eastern Europe
April 27th - May 4th 2011
An exceptional bird watching tour to a country that’s just waiting to be discovered by wildlife enthusiasts and that is destined to become a must visit destination for birders in the years to come. Belarus borders Poland, the Ukraine, Lithuania and the USSR and has a very impressive bird list that should satisfy any European Ornithologist. The pick of the most mouth watering species include Citrine Wagtail, Spotted Crake, Little Crake, Aquatic Warbler, Great Snipe, Terek Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Spotted Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, White backed and Three toed Woodpeckers, Bluethroat, Red breasted Flycatcher, Smew, Thrush Nightingale, Hazel Grouse, Great Grey Owl, Pygmy Owl, Crested Tit and perhaps best of all Azure Tit. The supporting cast of birds such as Wryneck, Hawfinch, Golden Oriole, Red necked Grebe, Black Woodpecker, Common Rosefinch, Penduline Tit, Great Grey Shrike, White winged and Whiskered Terns, Bittern, breeding plumaged Ruff and Montagu’s Harrier all add up to a fabulous birding experience.

Tour cost £1,049 SS £160.

WARBLER IDENTIFICATION WEEKEND
May 7th - 8th 2011
Another springtime Warbler Identification weekend based on the Fylde Coast will enable you to learn how to identify a range of our migrant Warbler species using plumage features, structure, habitat preference, behaviour and song. Some of our warblers can be tricky species to separate but they won’t be when we’ve shown you how ! We’ll spend 2 full days in the field studying Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Wood Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler with a chance of Cetti’s Warbler. We’ll also have a short evening slideshow to reinforce what’s been learnt in the field. There’s also a good chance of seeing other birds besides Warblers this weekend and these may include Kingfisher, Barn Owl and perhaps a surprise or two.

Weekend cost £139 SS £15

HUNGARY & ROMANIA
May 10th - 21st 2011
On this excellent tour we’ll explore the best of these two superb birding destinations. We spend 6 days in Hungary and 5 full days in the Transylvania region of Romania. In Hungary we visit an array of habitats and these include the Hortobagy Plain, the extensive marshes and fish pond systems of the Putza and in Romania we’ll spend time in the best areas of the Carpathian Mountains, the Pine woodlands of the Szovata region and the Bucsecs Mountains. Our long list of birds will include many sought after species such as Ferruginous Duck, Great Bustard, Marsh Warbler, Pygmy Cormorant, Squacco Heron, Red footed Falcon, White tailed Eagle, Saker, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Roller, Bee Eater, Long legged Buzzard, Penduline Tit, Lesser Grey Shrike, Collared Pratincole, possibly Black winged Pratincole, Aquatic Warbler, Moustached Warbler, River Warbler, Golden Eagle, Rock Thrush, Sombre Tit, Crag Martin, Alpine Swift, Syrian Woodpecker, Wallcreeper, Ural Owl, Three toed Woodpecker, White backed Woodpecker, Hazel Grouse, Capercaillie, Crested Tit, Honey Buzzard, Alpine Accentor, Water Pipit and Eagle Owl. There’ll also be mammals with an excellent chance of European Brown Bear with Chamois, Marmot and Wolf all possible.

Tour cost £1,549 SS £180.

EASTERN POLAND – Bialowiesza & Beyond
May 11th - 18th 2011
This is our 10th spring visit to Eastern Poland and although each trip has been different, every trip has been excellent. There’s a superb array of birds waiting to be enjoyed on this tour and we concentrate our efforts in two different areas – the Bialowieza Forest and the Biebzra Marshes. In the forest Woodpeckers will feature highly on our list of most desirable species and we’ll hope to find White backed, Three toed, Grey headed, Syrian, Middle spotted and Black along with Lesser spotted and numerous Wrynecks. There’ll also be other good woodland birds to enjoy and these should include Collared Flycatcher, Red breasted Flycatcher, Hawfinch, Pygmy Owl, Golden Oriole, Thrush Nightingale and Honey Buzzard. In the more open and damp wooded areas we’ll search for River Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Lesser spotted Eagle, Spotted Eagle, Barred Warbler, Citrine Wagtail, Penduline Tit and Bluethroat and in the marshes we’ll see Great Snipe, Aquatic Warbler, Common Crane, Savi’s Warbler, Corncrake, White Stork, Black Stork, Whiskered Tern, White winged Tern, Black Tern, breeding plumaged Ruff, White tailed Eagle, Great Reed Warbler and Montagu’s Harrier. Mammals are less predictable but we have seen Wolf on 2 previous tours along with Beaver, Pine Marten, Otter, Red Squirrel, Elk and Wild Boar.

Tour cost £1,069 SS £140.

BULGARIA - Spring in the Balkans
May 20th - June 2nd 2011
A great 2 weeks in Bulgaria where we’ll explore numerous diverse habitats for all the best birds that this excellent Balkan destination has to offer. We spend time in the magnificent Rhodope Mountains, on the Black Sea Coast, the Sakar Hills, the Goritka Oak forests, the Steppes and Cliffs of the Kaliakra Headland, the Shabla and Durankulak Wetlands, the Vitosha National Park and the Central Balkan Range of mountains with its huge Beech Forests in the Central Balkan National Park. The list of likely birds to be found on this holiday is lengthy and amongst those that we’ll hope to encounter are Wallcreeper, Alpine Swift, Crag Martin, Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Eastern Imperial Eagle, White tailed Eagle, Black Stork, Chukar, Rock Nuthatch, Ortolan Bunting, Pallid Swift, Red rumped Swallow, Blue Rock Thrush, Orphean, Sardinian, Subalpine, Eastern Bonelli’s, Olive Tree and Eastern Olivaceous Warblers, Black eared Wheatear, Sombre Tit, Black headed Bunting, Levant Sparrowhawk, Masked Shrike, Booted Eagle, Semi collared Flycatcher, Roller, Bee Eater, Hoopoe, Dalmation and White Pelicans, Broad billed Sandpiper, Slender billed Gull, Grey headed Woodpecker, Woodlark, Short toed Lark, Middle spotted Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Stone Curlew, Lesser Grey Shrike, Eagle Owl, Nutcracker, Pygmy Cormorant, Ferruginous Duck, Paddyfield Warbler, Ural Owl, White backed Woodpecker and Alpine Accentor.

Tour cost £1,549 SS £160.

FINLAND & ARCTIC NORWAY
May 25th - June 8th 2011
A great 2 week trip into Northern Europe where we’ll spend time in some of the best birding areas on the continent. Our tour starts in Finland and travels on into the Varanger Fjord in Arctic Norway before returning to Finland. There’ll be nights in Helsinki, Utsjoki, Ivalo, Luosto, Kuusamo and Oulu. There’s a long list of sought after species that we’ll be hoping for and these will include Capercaillie, Willow Grouse, Hazel Grouse, Three toed Woodpecker, Grey headed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Tengmalm’s Owl, Pygmy Owl, Ural Owl, Hawk Owl, Great Grey Owl, Eagle Owl, Thrush Nightingale, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, River Warbler, Rough legged Buzzard, Smew, Black & Red throated Divers, Jack Snipe, Long tailed Skua, Bluethroat, Red flanked Bluetail, Pine Grosbeak, Lapland Bunting, Arctic Redpoll, Brunnich’s Guillemot, White billed Diver, Steller’s Eider, King Eider, Red throated Pipit, Long tailed Duck, Gyrfalcon, Shorelark, Dotterel, Waxwing, Siberian Jay, Siberian Tit, Parrot Crossbill, Rustic Bunting, Common Crane and Terek Sandpiper.

Tour cost £2,395 SS £240

ETHIOPIA - Magical Eastern Africa
November 16th - December 3rd 2011
A fabulous 18 day birdwatching holiday to Ethiopia in central Eastern Africa. Ethiopia lies just to the north of Kenya and is without doubt one of the best birding destinations on the continent. There’s a array of habitats and sites to visit that’ll feature the Gefersa Wetlands, the Sululta Plains, the Awash National Park, Lake Langano, the Koka Dam, the Kudu Valley, Basaka Lake, the Abijata Shalla National Park, the Bale Mountains National Park, the Sanetti Plateau, the Harrena Forest, Yabello, Dubuluk and Awassa. Between 450 and 500 species of bird are will be seen on this tour, with many endemics, along with a good selection of mammals too. Birds could include Blue winged Goose, Black headed Siskin, Wattled Ibis, Erlanger’s Lark, Red chested Swallow, Pectoral – patch Cisticola, Augur Buzzard, Lammergeier, Verreaux’s Eagle, Mocking Cliff Chat, Hemprich’s Hornbill, Botta’s Wheatear, Cinnamon breasted Bunting, Brown woodland Warbler, Black billed Barbet, Blue breasted Bee Eater, Black winged Lovebird, Beautiful Sunbird, Red breasted Wryneck, Taita Fiscal, African Thrush, African Fish Eagle, Orange bellied Parrot, Kori, Buff crested, White bellied and Black bellied Bustards, Carmine Bee Eater, Woodland Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Black Crake, Goliath Heron, Pink Pelican, Maccoa Duck, Great Black headed Gull, Yellow fronted Parrot, Abyssinian Ground Thrush, Forest Wagtail, Ayre’s Hawk Eagle, White cheeked Turaco, Banded Barbet, Rouget’s Rail and Pygmy Batis to name a handful. Mammals could feature Warthog, Ethiopian Wolf, Rock Hyrax, Bohor Reedbuck, Vervet Monkey, Black and White Colobus Monkey, Golden Jackal, Oribi, Grant’s Gazelle, Beisa Oryx, Soemmiring’s Gazelle, Striped Hyena, Wild Cat, Gelada Baboon and Bleeding Heart Baboon. Leopard and Lion are possible but sightings are rare.

Tour cost £2,945 SS £200

All our overseas tours require a minimum of 6 participants to go ahead and usually have a maximum of 12.

All the above holidays are now booking or taking reservations. For further details, to request a full detailed itinerary or to book on any tour please contact us at Ribble Bird Tours, 4 Sunnyhurst Avenue, Blackpool, Lancs FY4 2HP. 01253 312043/ 07954 584359 or smrbt@blueyonder.co.uk.

Bookings can only be accepted with a completed Ribble Bird Tours booking form and deposit (should you cancel your holiday with us you may be liable for loss of deposit and/ or cancellation charges). For any reason your tour is cancelled or postponed by us you will be offered a full refund or a suitable alternative tour.

Terms and conditions of booking are available on request and we strongly recommend that you see them before booking on any Ribble Bird Tours holiday. All our holidays are designed for birdwatchers rather than listers and, compared to most other bird tour company trips, are at an easy going and relaxed pace. However some walking is inevitable when looking for birds and other wildlife. Our birding day generally starts at about 8am and usually ends around 6pm although sometimes it is necessary to be out and about earlier or later to see certain species and on certain tours early starts may be the norm. Please ask us or see an itinerary before booking.
We are also able to organise your bird group or natural history society birdwatching holidays at home or abroad at group discount rates – call us for details.