A warm welcome to our 2008 brochure of birdwatching holidays, this being our twenty-first year of operation.

In 2008, we have introduced new tours to interesting countries around the world, all of them having had an inspection trip either by us or our local tour operators. These include a short tour to Madeira in late June for the island’s endemic species and seabirds.

In Asia we have introduced two tours to China. The first in July takes you to the Tibetan Plateau for high-altitude species and the spectacular vistas of the Himalayan mountain chain. The second tour to China in January 2009 features the unknown island of Hainan and the province of Yunnan straddling the border with Burma. We have also brought back our tour to the Malaysian sector of Borneo, an area rich in rain-forest species and endangered mammals, notably the Orang-utang.

In India we have a new tour featuring Gujurat and Rajastan, concentrating on desert species, cranes and probably the largest harrier roost in the world. Our tour to Thailand in south-east Asia sold out within days so we have another departure in late 2008. In South America, we have reintroduced our tour to Northern Argentina. Further north, we have a late spring tour to Manitoba and Hudson Bay (Churchill) in Canada and a five-day trip to Iceland for special birds occurring there. In Africa, we have departures to Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi and the island of Madagascar, the latter tour concentrating on the country’s endemic birds and mammals. To complement our Ghana trip, we have added a special one week tour for White-necked Rockfowl. In 2008, we are also offering a tour of the south Pacific Islands taking in Tahiti, New Caledonia and Fiji. This is a unique tour with over 45 island endemic birds on offer including the amazing Kagu. In addition to the above, we have tours to the Azores, Bulgaria, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.

2008 sees the third year of Black Isle Birding which covers all our holidays operating in Scotland. This sector has grown significantly over the last year and we are pleased to say that we have a growing reputation as one of Scotland’s premier birding companies. Jo and I operate our popular ‘holiday at home programme’ based at Cygnus House. Its location overlooking the Cromarty Firth, plus two acres of wildlife habitat, makes it is an ideal base for visiting northern Scotland. We have therefore extended our Scottish programme in 2008 at Cygnus House and other destinations around Scotland including the Shetland and Orkney Islands, Western Isles and Aberdeenshire and Fife. In addition to the Scottish Highlands, we have added an autumn tour to Northern Ireland and Donegal in search of vagrants and spectacular numbers of wildfowl from further north. We firmly believe we offer you the best birding packages in Scotland with the country’s top birding guides along with a friendly and welcoming service with no hidden extras.

We look forward to welcoming you on one of our tours in Europe or further afield.