NEW! HIGHLAND MIGRATION by LAND & SEA

SAT 19 AUGUST – SAT 26 AUGUST, SAT 26 AUGUST – SAT 2 SEPTEMBER 2023

SAT 17 AUGUST – SAT 24 AUGUST, SAT 24 AUGUST – SAT 31 AUGUST 2024

PRICES: from £1595pp

Early Birder Prices from £1445pp (subject to availability). Contact us before booking! No single supplement. Full details are on our website. Please read FIELD NOTES on page 9.

Autumn is an exciting time of year, and on this tour we explore the Highland coastline to its fullest, offering some of the best migration-based birding available in Scotland. Our award-winning hotel is ideally placed and on this highly flexible itinerary our daily routine will very much depend on weather conditions and up to date bird news. Local knowledge is key, and our guides will choose the right day to visit sites accordingly, dedicating time to both land and sea. Resident populations are at their peak and with incoming migration, bird numbers and species variety are at their highest.

Day visits to the Moray Coast and Black Isle yield waders, seaduck, divers and grebes, while rich farmland ensures there is plenty to seek inland. Higher numbers of seabirds are more likely in the Minch after westerly storms or in poor visibility, with skuas, shearwaters and petrels featuring. The Aberdeenshire coast or Tarbet peninsula both support a variety of habitats, with many species possible, including those rarely seen on other tours and ‘drift’ passerines after easterly winds. Will we get lucky with a rarity or two?

With migration the priority, this is a unique tour. We do not plan to seek Ptarmigan in the high hills or elusive Capercaillie in the forests, and instead devote more time to choose the best days to look for seabirds, the best tides to check for waders and the best winds for passerines. We may single out an exciting rarity, and be prepared to travel for that one special bird if necessary! It’s an exciting time for keen birders to be out in the field, and our Guides especially enjoy these days so come and join them!

Seven nights at Mountview Hotel.

Combine with:

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Autumn in the Highlands with Easy Walking (p25), Twenty Scottish Specials (p26), Raptors & Grouse (p27), Autumn Migration in the Highlands (p26).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

North Ron & Orkney in early Autumn for birders (p42), Outer Hebrides in early Autumn for birders (p43).