Compare Wildlife for Beginners by Speyside Wildlife
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| Trip |
5 | Excellent
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| Duration | 8 days |
| Price From | $ 1,300 |
| Price Per Day | $ 163 |
| Highlights |
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| Trip Style | Small group tour |
| Lodging Level | Standard |
| Physical Level |
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| Travel Themes |
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| Countries Visited | |
| Cities and Attractions | N/A |
| Flights & Transport | Ground transport included |
| Activities |
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| Meals Included |
Dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 8 |
| Description |
One of National Geographic Traveler's 50 Tours of a Lifetime 2015 and the best place to start if you're new to wildlife watching! An all-inclusive bird and mammal watching holiday based at our converted steading in the Cairngorms National Park, with our popular single-centre, houseparty style. Learn to identify those tricky species that are so confusing, from the common to the rare, including the Highland specialities. Comfortable minibus transport. |
Day 1:
Dinner together on Saturday evening starts the holiday
Day 2-7:
Specially created to help you gain confidence in identifying birds, this is a week to ask as many questions as you like, no matter how simple you think they may sound. We love helping you learn and whether it is a bird call you don’t recognise, a raptor high overhead, or the fine art of telling a Meadow Pipit from a Tree Pipit we can help!
We’ll tailor the week to what you need, but also find exciting new birds for you, so while picking out the difference between Great Tit and Coal Tit calls, we’ll show you Crested Tit as well!
Raptors can cause great confusion, so grab this opportunity to become familiar with them - with young on the wing they are at their most numerous. Learn to tell that distant Golden Eagle from a Buzzard (well most of the time!), tell a Sparrowhawk from a Kestrel and we’ll hope to find Peregrine, Hen Harrier and Merlin, all of which become easier with experience.
The most difficult bird of all is the crossbill, with three species possible - even the experts can’t always be sure which is which!
The meandering River Spey and its rushing tributaries hold Dipper and Grey Wagtail, while abundant Curlew, Redshank, Lapwing and Oystercatcher call to their young. It’s a great mix of exciting birds in beautiful glens, forests and moorland scenery. We’ll see Red-throated Diver and Slavonian Grebe on the coast and learn to identify Sandwich, Little and the more difficult Common and Arctic Tern. If you are really keen, we can do the gulls too! Ospreys fish in the surf here and ducks are challenging with the males in ‘eclipse’ plumage.
We’ll also seek out the different species of deer and hare that can be seen, and on one evening we’ll visit our hide and look for Pine Marten and Badger - perhaps the best view you’ll ever have.
Day 8:
After breakfast on Saturday we say our farewells.
