Welcome to Birdwatching Breaks and Black Isle Birding

A warm welcome to our on-line 2026-2027 brochure of birdwatching holidays, this being our 40th year of operation. 
In 2026-2027, we have rescheduled our programmes concentrating on Scotland with Black Isle Birding, Japan Birding tours in spring and winter. Senegal Birding Tours offer a wide range of dates and the chance to have private/custom made tours from October to March, and finally Guinea-Bissau and Casamance which is combined with the former.

In Asia, we have destinations to Japan both in winter and early summer. For those who wish to witness the winter wonderland of Japan, we have tours in February 2027 and December 2027 and a truly wonderful late spring tour stretching from the Ryuku Islands to Hokkaido in May/June. The country continues to be a popular destination and we have modified the winter tour slightly to visit an area for Japanese Murrelet (February dates only).

In Africa, we have departures to Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. These destinations offer you an extremely wide range of African birds and mammals from the Sahel in Senegal to the birds and mammals. In Senegal we have a new tour taking in a pelagic trip off Dakar and the Sahel region along the Senegal River. To the south we have an established tour taking in the unexplored country of Guinea-Bissau and the southern part of Senegal, Casamance.
 
2027 sees the 22nd year of Black Isle Birding which covers all our holidays operating in Scotland. This sector has grown significantly over the last few years 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 “home-stay” programme based at Cygnus House. Its location, overlooking the Cromarty Firth and set in two acres of wildlife habitat, makes it is an ideal base for visiting northern Scotland. We have several other Scottish tours available plus an autumn migration tour to Ireland. 

I 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. 

The team at Birdwatching Breaks and Black Isle Birding look forward to welcoming you on one of our tours. 

Later in 2026 a programme of birding holidays will be run by Simon Papps as I have decided to take a reduced role and semiretirement. 

Finally, my thanks go to Russell Turner for the on-line 2026-2027 brochure and for the layout and design.

Mark Finn