New for 2023 at Mountview Hotel – Moths and Dragons!

We’ll be enhancing your wildlife experience at The Mountview in 2023 with the addition of moth trapping and pond dipping, all at no additional cost and without reducing our birdwatching time. We began moth trapping in January and expect to build a substantial list during the year. In May we’ll

begin dipping into our new garden pond (built in conjunction with the British Dragonfly Society) with our most hoped-for species being Northern Damselfly and Northern Emerald. This area being a stronghold for both!

After more than thirty years of private ownership, Heatherlea is now part of a new Employee Trust, which took over on 5th July 2021. Kevin chose employee ownership after consulting with others who had benefited from a similar course. He says “I was impressed that everyone inside these companies had a vested interest in their collective future. We all work hard for each other, and employee ownership is just one more step forward on a successful journey for this lovely little company, which is looking forward with confidence.”

The main advantage is that Heatherlea is no longer owned by private individuals. All assets of the company (including Mountview Hotel, Nethy Bridge) are secured within the Trust, which means we have a more resilient and adaptable business, making us stronger going forward. Another advantage is that employees become even more engaged and committed, because they benefit from a clear, shared purpose. This is a very positive move, which means greater stability and security for Heatherlea, our staff, clients, suppliers, and of course for all our operating friends and agents around the world!

Emma, Fleur, Jolene, Lindsay, Dawn and Kevin are here to help, please contact us anytime. Please visit our website to read more about the holiday of your choice, and also to download a free ‘Trip Report’ from a recent holiday.

Our office team will be very happy to speak with you by telephone or email, and you can check up-to-date availability in person by calling or writing. To reserve your holiday please telephone or email us.

tel: 01479 821248 email: info@heatherlea.co.uk web: www.heatherlea.co.uk facebook: HeatherleaBirdwatching twitter: @heatherleabirds instagram: @heatherleabirds

Our highly experienced team are ready and waiting to organise your holiday and show you the wildlife, wherever you want to go!

Your holiday includes the services of a Heatherlea Guide, a very valuable asset. We are well-known for great guiding and personal care, and our expert leaders know that the really important part of any holiday is the experience for you, our valued customer. Much more than a friend to help you identify birds, your Heatherlea Guide plans your entire holiday, from briefing on the first evening to round-up on the last. They organise everything to suit wildlife, weather and your progress through the week, and because our groups are small, have time to care about your personal experience. This isn’t just whether or not you saw the bird or animal, but whether you are getting the most from your holiday.

Our core team are based in the UK and can be found in Scotland and further afield. Most have been working for Heatherlea for many years, and a quick check reveals around 140 years of guiding for Heatherlea across this part of our team! Read detailed Guide profiles on our website, where you can also see their current guiding itinerary.

Jenna Berry

Jenna is a keen and capable birder, and in 2015 she started work as a wildlife guide in the Scottish Highlands, running tours in and around the Inverness Glens, the Black Isle, the Cairngorms and the Scottish Islands. Jenna joined our team in 2020.

Aidan Branch

Aidan is the newest member of our team, joining in 2022. Born and raised in Lancaster, Aidan has been immersed in wildlife since a young age. In recent years he has been Assistant Warden at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory; a spectacular spot to see bird migration at its best. He is an excellent birder, very popular with Heatherlea clients already, and a fully qualified ringer.

James Champion

A newcomer to the Heatherlea team in 2022, James has been birding since he was a toddler. He first started guiding in 1995, has led many groups around Scotland and has also guided in Cornwall, Japan, China and in India, where he is a frequent visitor, his grandfather having been the first person to photograph tigers in the wild, and the first to campaign for their protection.

Mike Coleman

Cheery and friendly, Mike first joined us in 2001, and is particularly drawn to our new holidays in Asia, though you can join him on tours in Scotland and around the world, much to the benefit of our groups!

Peter Cosgrove

Peter is a professional ecoconsultant, keen birder throughout the Highlands and well-travelled overseas, leading for us in the Caribbean, Africa, Americas and elsewhere.

Andrew Crowder

Andrew is an experienced naturalist and Tour Leader with a life long history of observation, study and sheer enjoyment of wildlife. Andrew has spent extensive time in many parts of mainland Scotland and its incredible islands, both from the land and sea. His other great wildlife passion is for cetaceans, with thirty years of experience studying them, and he also has skills in wildlife photography.

Barry Embling

Barry joins us again in 2023 and is a very popular member of our team. A keen birdwatcher and naturalist at home and abroad, Barry us again in 2022 and is looking forward to leading in Scotland, the rest of the UK and overseas.

Bernie Forbes

Experienced leader Bernie loves sharing his passion for birds and his groups enjoy great birding. Bernie has led many groups around Europe, North Africa and the Americas, and now extends Heatherlea tours into his native Sussex.

Ian Ford

Ian first joined Heatherlea in 1999 and joins us again in 2023 as a Senior Guide. Ever popular, Ian will be leading groups from Orkney to the Solway Firth in Scotland, and overseas holidays including Gambia, Camargue and Southern Peru.

George Gay

George joined Heatherlea in 2019 as a Guide and has already become a firm favourite with our clients, as his ID and photographic skills are matched by his enthusiasm in the field!

Toby Green

Toby is a very experienced birder, who joined us in 2013. A popular Leader in Scotland and around the world, Toby is a top birder with a great sense of humour, and boundless enthusiasm.

Phil Knott

Phil is a well-established and popular member of the Heatherlea team who now lives on the Isle of Skye. Phil has extensive guiding experience in many key birding destinations throughout the world.

Scott O’Hara

Scott joined our team in autumn 2015 and is a well-liked and knowledgeable member of our team. We are delighted Scott will be joining us again in 2023!

Holly Page

Holly is a keen birder who we have long known as a Heatherlea client. She joined us to realise her dream job as a Heatherlea Guide in 2019. Holly has spent many years birding across the north of England, and now has extensive knowledge of Scotland too!

Dave Pearce

Dave joined the Heatherlea team in 2020 and brings with him a vast array of knowledge. He has travelled widely throughout Britain in search of birds, often in the pursuit of rarities, and has a particular interest in migration.

Alex Rhodes

Alex is a new recruit to Heatherlea but brings with him some sharp eyes and ears. Originally from the Southwest, he completed a BSc in Zoology at the University of Bristol and was a licenced ringer for a period of 5 years; during which time he frequented Fair Isle as a volunteer and worked at Falsterbo fågelstation in Sweden.

Chris Rodger

Chris is an experienced birding guide and leader throughout Scotland with a passion for the ecology and landscape of the country. A member of the Scottish Rarities Committee, we are delighted to welcome Chris back to our team in 2023!

Kevin Shaw

Founder of Heatherlea with wife Caryl in 1991, Kevin is around most weeks at The Mountview Hotel in Nethy Bridge when not leading in Scotland or overseas. Kevin tends to pop up unannounced on several overseas holidays each year.

Mark Warren

Mark joined us from North Ronaldsay in January 2016 and is now a popular member of our team in Scotland and around the world. An experienced birder and tour leader, with extensive wildlife knowledge and boundless enthusiasm, Mark looks forward to guiding for us again in 2023.

Our overseas guiding team are dedicated experts in the regions and countries they cover, and when working for Heatherlea are frequently required to provide services which make our trips unique. This might mean upgraded accommodation, cultural elements that we think you will like, and much more. Our office team are in regular contact before every trip, and our overseas agents and guides are always particularly well briefed. This might mean special attention to your diet, medical requirements, extensions to your holiday or anything else we can think of to improve your holiday experience. All are very experienced and great favourites of ours!

Peg Abbott

We first met Peg at Heatherlea, and immediately recognised a first-rate tour leader. Peg has worked in the Yellowstone ecosystem for 30 years, specialising in wolf, grizzly and elk projects. Peg is an experienced birder, leading natural history and birding tours for over 20 years.

Suchit Basnet

Suchit is one of the most famous and sought-after Leaders in his native Nepal, where his extensive knowledge and sunny disposition brighten every trip. We are delighted to welcome him back for 2023.

Wilson Diaz

Our agent in Peru, Wilson has developed our unique itineraries in his home country, covering a huge range of spectacular birds and wonderful Machu Picchu.

Gerard Gorman

Gerard is Heatherlea organiser for Eastern Europe, and also leads for us elsewhere overseas. Well-known as an expert on the world’s woodpeckers, and author of several wellinformed birding books, Lancastrian Gerard lives in Budapest.

Andy Jones

Known to many in his former role as 'The Iceland Naturalist', Andy Jones joins Heatherlea as a Guide. Based in Iceland for more than 20 years he has led wildlife holidays and educational field trips to many countries and is a very experienced wildlife guide. Andy will lead a number of tours for Heatherlea in the next few years!

Tang Jun

Has been guiding birding tours in China since 1999 and is a very experienced Leader throughout the country. The owner of our Chinese agent company, and vice-chairman of Chengdu Birdwatching Society, we are delighted that Tang can join us personally this year.

Johnnie Kamugisha

Johnnie is a vastly experienced Guide, having led wildlife tours across Uganda for 16 years, often in the company of his wife Agnes. Johnnie is a top birder, and President of the Uganda Bird Guides Club.

Jozef Leestmans

Jozef is a native of Flanders, and formerly a Reserve Manager for the Flemish Government and for the nature organisation Natuurpunt in Belgium. A highly experienced European birder, Jozef guided for Heatherlea during several years while he was living in the Highlands, and also led tours for us in Belgium, Holland and Armenia.

Paco Madrigal

Our leader in Costa Rica for many years, Paco is widely regarded as one of the best wildlife guides in the country, with an extremely likeable, easy-going manner, and a complete knowledge of the birds of his homeland. We are delighted Paco will be leading for us again this year.

John Muddeman

John is based in central Spain and is a highly experienced and capable birding Tour Leader. Numerous trips to Extremadura from the beginning culminated in the publication of "A birdwatching guide to Extremadura" in 2000. Following this he has guided extensively across the country, throughout the seasons. John is very much looking forward to your company!

Gabor and Andrea Orban

Gabor and his wife Andrea guide for us in Mexico and Belize. Gabor is our specialist birding guide, having led birding tours in Central Americas since 2006, and Andrea concentrates on the cultural aspects of the many Mayan sites we visit.

Menotti Passarella

'What Menotti doesn't know about the birds of the Po Delta isn't worth knowing' - Bob Scott, 'Where to go birdwatching in the Po Delta'. We are always guaranteed fascinating birding with our Italian expert Menotti, and often gain access to places not normally open to the public.

Sergi Sales

Sergi is an outstanding Spanish birder, specialising in the birds of the Ebro Delta and steppe areas of his native Catalonia. Able to readily identify virtually everything he sees or hears, Sergi is a fount of knowledge and a valuable addition to our holiday team.

Rodrigo Tapia

Rodrigo has explored Chile’s whole length from the northern Altiplano to Cape Horn while conducting ornithological research and guiding birding tours and pelagics since 1989 and works full-time as a birding and wildlife trip leader. He has spent hundreds of hours with albatrosses, petrels and other seabirds, a group which has always captivated him.

Andrés Trujillo is a highly experienced tour guide in Colombia and Ecuador, with a comprehensive knowledge of the birds, mammals and other wildlife of his homeland. Andres has led trips for Heatherlea since 2008.

Washington Wachira

Washington is an experienced birder and safari guide, awarded the African Sustainable Tourism Fellowship Award in 2016. He has led many birding trips and expeditions across East Africa and has a comprehensive knowledge of the birdlife of his native Kenya.

Steve West

Steve, a lifelong birder and conservationist, hails from Hampshire originally before moving to Catalonia, Spain at the age of 24 where he lives until this day. Steve has led tours throughout mainland Spain on a regular basis in Catalonia, Aragon, Navarra, Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla y León, Cantabria and Asturias. Steve speaks fluent Catalan and Spanish. We look forward to Steve joining the team in 2023.