HIGHLANDS and ORKNEY

SAT 3 JUNE – SAT 10 JUNE 2023

SAT 1 JUNE – SAT 8 JUNE 2024

PRICES: from £1695pp

Early Birder Prices from £1545pp (subject to availability). Contact us before booking! No single supplement. Further details and a Trip Report are on our website.

Please read FIELD NOTES on page 9.

As Scottish summer gets into full swing we visit Orkney, where special breeding birds include Hen Harrier, Short-eared Owl, Red-throated Diver and Twite. With auks, skuas, terns and gulls, our three-day journey is full of excitement amid stunning coastal scenery. We also search the Caledonian pinewoods and rugged glens to find many special birds.

We begin locally, looking for Crested Tit and Scottish Crossbill in the forests. Your list may include Osprey, Dipper, Buzzard, Goldeneye, Red Grouse, Black-throated Diver, Lesser Redpoll, Peregrine, breeding waders and Slavonian Grebe. The beauty of divers and grebes in breeding plumage spellbinds many of our guests, and we often admire at close quarters. Capercaillie are increasingly scarce, and we no longer look for them at this time of year, though incidental sightings are possible. We enjoy two nights on Orkney giving us a real flavour of this fertile archipelago. We visit tiny fishing villages where a late staying Iceland Gull or breeding Black Guillemot is possible. Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl breed, and we often enjoy great views of both quartering rough grasslands and heaths. With the sound of Skylark and Meadow Pipit all around, we may add hunting Merlin to our lists too. We have a full day to visit the stunning seabird colony of either Marwick Head or Brough of Birsay, as well as birding numerous bays where we often find summer-plumaged Sanderling and Turnstone and a late Great Northern Diver. Although primarily a birding trip, there may be the option to visit World Heritage sites such as ‘Ring of Brodgar’ and ‘Stones of Stenness’. Ferry crossings should yield Great and Arctic Skua among the seabirds and in recent years we have seen Orca, Minke Whale, dolphins and Otter, so don’t miss a minute!

Later we seek Golden Eagle, Peregrine and Ring Ouzel to complete a lovely day. At coastal haunts, expect Osprey, Eider, Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser, Stonechat, Red-throated Diver, Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Grey Partridge, plus any rarities within reach. NB, we don’t visit the Cairngorm plateau during this itinerary.

Total species approx. 110. Other wildlife should include Red Squirrel, Red Deer, Roe Deer, Grey Seal, Common Seal and Otter. Mountain Hare, Bottle-nosed Dolphin and Harbour Porpoise are possible.

Five nights at Mountview Hotel. Two nights at a comfortable hotel on Orkney.

Six nights at Mountview Hotel. One night at a comfortable hotel on the west.

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Highlands and Corncrake (p18), Highlands and Orkney (p19).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

Shetland Island Explorer (p34), Islands on the Edge (p35), Outer Hebrides in Spring (p33), Birding the North Coast 500 (p18), Mull, Iona and Treshnish (p34), Orkney Island Explorer (p36), Arran and Ailsa Craig (p35).

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

High Season across the Highlands (p19).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

Orkney Island Explorer (p36), Shetland & Orkney (p36).

NEW! Wildlife of Argyll and Inner Hebridean Islands (p37).