Field Notes – Scottish Highlands

‘Scottish Highlands’ holidays include everything you need for a great birding holiday. En-suite accommodation, all food including breakfast, packed lunch and dinner, all minibus transportation, ferries, access charges, guidance and much more are included in the price.

Breakfast is usually at 7.30am or 8.00am. Sometimes we organise an earlier breakfast if we have a distance to travel, you will be given full information during the holiday. We leave for a full day (with a substantial packed lunch!), returning about 5.30pm – 6.00pm for dinner at 7.00pm. Dinner on arrival date may be a little earlier or later to suit train timetables, and early breakfast is available on the final day.

Expect a wide variation of weather, whenever you visit Scotland! Bring warm clothing, waterproofs, and walking boots or shoes. Bring binoculars and a telescope if possible. A camera may be useful too! You don’t need flasks for hot drinks, or wellies.

WALKING

Your holiday (based on a full week itinerary) includes:

4 Seven nights en-suite accommodation. A VisitScotland approved three-star hotel, The Mountview Hotel in Nethy Bridge has comfortable en-suite rooms including TV and hospitality tray.

4 THERE IS NO SINGLE SUPPLEMENT, and guests are never expected to share. Single guests may be upgraded to a double room at no extra charge. Deposit is £300pp.

4 Some Mainland Scotland holidays include a second centre for either one or two nights, usually in hotels, occasionally in good quality B&Bs. Most of these have hosted Heatherlea holidays for many years, and we know them well.

4 Six days birding with Heatherlea, including full Scottish breakfast, a substantial packed lunch (six days) and a delicious dinner.

4 The services of your Heatherlea Guide during six full days birding, including optional early and late excursions. Maximum group size seven clients per Guide (or eight clients during four-night holidays).

4 All transport by comfortable minibus.

4 All access fees, ferry charges and transfers.

4 Saturday courtesy pick-up and return service to Aviemore.

4 A checklist specifically prepared for your holiday to record your sightings and notes.

4 NEW for 2023! Moth trapping and pond dipping (see page 3)! There are no hidden charges. Expenses including travel to The Mountview Hotel, insurance, drinks and other items of a personal nature are not included in your holiday price.

Walking is generally light to moderate, and if you can walk a couple of miles in half a day you will find these holidays very comfortable. Many days contain hardly any walking at all, as we take you directly to key sites. An exception is mountain day, where walking can be strenuous, particularly in the months May – July when we usually require a long walk to see Ptarmigan and especially Dotterel. You can ‘opt-out’ of this day if you wish. An ‘Easy Walking’ itinerary is available on specified holidays, including a different location to look for Ptarmigan.

BITING INSECTS

Biting insects are not expected January to May, or October to December. In the months June to September, biting insects are not generally a problem. We don’t linger around standing water, and if insects do occur, we move away!

TURNING THE TIDE AGAINST PLASTIC

Picnic lunches prepared at Heatherlea are virtually free of disposable plastic (clingfilm is used sparingly). We don’t use plastic water bottles or cutlery, and re-usable lunch boxes and mugs are provided for drinks. We ask all partner agents and hotels around the world to do the same.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The interests of wildlife come first on a Heatherlea holiday. We never disturb or alarm wildlife, and fully support countryside and birdwatching codes of conduct. We also respect the wishes and instructions of landowners and ask our guests to adopt the same approach.

All itineraries are given as a guide only. Actual holiday content may vary according to the judgement of your guide, and elements beyond our control (e.g. weather).

Our thanks go to many people who provided images for use in this brochure. Our apologies to anyone we have missed!

Photos: Peg Abbott, David Acfield, Adventure Birding, Jolene Allan, Suchit Basnet, Rod Baker, Nigel Bewley, Birdlife Belarus, Birding Korea, Mark Brazil, Colin Brown, Paul Carter, Mike Coleman, Peter Cosgrove, Peter Csonka, Wilson Diaz, Sally Ducker, Knut Eisermann, Euan Ferguson, Mags Fewkes, Finnature, Jeff Fisher, Ian Ford, George Gay, Dimiter Georgiev, Simeon Gigov, Gerard Gorman, Toby Green, Chris Grady, Chris Hughes, Andy Jones, Rob Jordan, Tang Jun, Phil Knott, Letaka Safaris, Lucas Lombardo, Minh Luyen, Janet Lynch, Paco Madrigal, Leon Marais, Emma McBride, Neil McIntyre, Chrys Mellor, Brahim Mezane, Heather Mills, Derek Mills, Adrian Mills, Scott O’Hara, Carles Oliver, Gabor & Andrea Orban, Holly Page, Jari Peltomaki, Heinz Plenge, Jonny Pott, Matt Prophet, Dave Pullan, Stephen Rutt, Josele Saiz, Kevin Shaw, Ted Smith, Greg Smith, Nigel Sprowell, Richard Stansfield, Peter Stronach, Matt Sullivan, Judy Swift, Rodrigo Tapia, Chris Townsend, David Tillman, Andres Trujillo, Machiel Valkenburg, Mladen Vasilev, Washington Wachira, Mark Warren, David Whitaker. Cartoons for ‘Getting here is easy!’ Clive Francis.

We recommend you bring your own binoculars and telescope. As an extra service, Heatherlea offer a loan service of high performance Swarovski binoculars FREE OF CHARGE for the duration of your holiday. Your guides are also equipped with Swarovski telescopes which they are happy to share, though of course you might have to wait for a look! Please book loan binoculars in advance; availability is limited and cannot be guaranteed.