© Peter Roberts
Jamie and Neil off St Kilda
Neil ArnoldA partner in the company, Neil has been leading groups in the field for no less than forty years, first for the RSPB, and then in more recent years for us. In the past 16 years he has led over 140 tours for The Travelling Naturalist throughout the world. Neil's prime interests are birds and mammals, especially cetaceans. He also claims some knowledge of 'bugs'! His style of convivial, good-humoured leadership coupled with an amazingly good eye has won him a loyal following. |
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Mark and Jean CaultonMark and Jean are ecologists formerly living near Durban, and who are now resident in New Zealand. They run distinctive and highly popular birdwatching and wildlife safaris in Southern Africa. As well as being excellent field naturalists and guides, their catering abilities also deserve a mention, and will be put to good use on our forthcoming tours with them again. In 2008 they will again be running our Kruger and Drakensberg tour. |
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Liz CharterLiz joined us as a client on our 2005 Crete tour, when we were so impressed with her botanical expertise and enthusiasm that we immediately asked her back to co-lead ! She is a good all-round naturalist and a keen gardener, and is a fan of island life, having lived with her family for ten years on Orkney and eight on the Isle of Man, where she currently works as a professional conservationist. This year she will again lead our tours to Crete and Western Ireland. |
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Robin ChittendenRobin lives in Norfolk, and has a wide-ranging repertoire of overseas tours and excellent all-round wildlife experience. Well known as one of the UK's top wildlife photographers and is a photographic consultant for British Birds. He is one of the wildlife photographers for Natural England. When not busy tour leading, Robin runs Birdline East Anglia, an information service for birdwatchers. He has written a book on birds of prey, and took nearly all the photos in Stephen Moss's 'Blokes & Birds'. He also fits in some freelance bird surveyor work and has even stepped in occasionally to help out at the Pinkfoot Gallery in Cley. |
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Graham ClarkGraham lives in Edinburgh. He has been a keen birder since the age of nine, when he found a Hoopoe while convalescing from the mumps with his granny in Brighton. Since then he has pursued his interest across five continents - but only finding Hoopoes on three of them! Graham's varied career has ranged from oil-rig engineer to private secretary to the Minister of State for Scotland, and he's a past chairman of the Scottish Ornithologists' Club in Lothian. Seabirds, cetaceans, boat trips and islands are among his favourite things in life. |
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Tony ClarkeOriginally from London, and bitten by the travel bug at an early age, he has spent long periods birding overseas, notably in Australia, before finally putting down roots in the Canary Islands. Long established as the Canaries' top resident bird and wildlife guide, and author of the recently published Field Guide to the birds of the Atlantic Islands, no one is better qualified to lead our annual trips there. |
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Stephanie CoghlanStephanie is an excellent all-round naturalist and a highly experienced tour leader. She now runs her own wildlife tour company, the well-known 'Snail's Pace', and has led tours to Africa, Asia, Central America and throughout Europe. She is author of the much-acclaimed 'A Birdwatching Guide to Crete', and 'A Birdwatching Guide to Brittany'. This year she once again leads our tours to The Peloponnese, Crete and Western Greece. |
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Callan CohenSouth Africa-born Callan has more than 20 years experience of African birding. He lives in Cape Town, where he runs Birding Africa, a tour company that specialises in birding trips in and around the Cape. With his comfortable easy style, Callan was an immediate hit with our groups and now designs and leads our tours to Namibia and Uganda. He written two books on birding in Africa, including the definitive site guide to southern Africa and Madagascar, and is a doctoral student at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town, with a degree in botany. His skill and all-round ability in the field have earned him a deserved reputation as one of Africa's foremost wildlife tour guides. |
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David CottridgeDavid is a Cornishman by birth but chose to build his nest in London. In 1983, he won the British Birds 'Bird Photograph of the Year' Award and is widely regarded as Britain's leading bird photographer. He's also one of the most popular lecturers on the UK birding circuit, renowned for his humorous delivery - and a vast repertoire of appalling jokes! Music, fuchsias, Riojas and making top-drawer curries are among his other passions - but please don't ask him about the triple jump! |
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Mike CreweMike was born and raised in Oxford, and now lives in Norfolk. Apart from birds, his American wife Megan, and a fondness for blackcurrant ice-cream, Mike claims his other real passion is for plants. Those who have travelled with him, however, will know that this isn't strictly true for he's actually a highly accomplished all-rounder who takes great pleasure in sharing his discoveries with others. |
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Stephen DalyA birdwatcher since the age of eight, Stephen says his first birding memories are of Aberlady Bay on Scotland's Firth of Forth. Having subsequently lived and worked in the UK, Germany and France, he has finally settled near Barbate, in southernmost Spain, where he runs his own specialist wildlife tour company, Andalucian Guides. Stephen's hobbies include walking, painting, music, reading - and single malt whiskies. In 2008, we'll again be putting his linguistic skills and wide-ranging local knowledge to good use on a range of tours from his 'home patch' in Spain through to Austria and the Bavarian Alps. |
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Tim EarlTim is based in Guernsey where he still does a little journalism, although most of his working time is now taken up by tour leading and prospecting for us. This year he is leading new 'trailblazer tours' for us to Peru, Ghana, Guyana and California. His travels have taken him to several African countries, Australasia, Scandinavia and Russia, North America and the Neotropics and many places in mainland Europe. This year he is celebrating 25 years of leading tours starting with his 18th group to the Falklands (he is one of the pioneer leaders to this most exciting wildlife destination). Tim's outgoing and informative style, enthusiasm, experience and humour are always greatly appreciated by our clients. |
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Upali EkanayakeUpali is the most senior bird tour guide in Sri Lanka, with over 30 years guiding experience behind him. Formerly attached to the Zoology department at the University of Peradeniya, he trained in the UK, at Cambridge and Aberdeen Universities, and with the RSPB. From 1994, he spent two years as national consultant with the IUCN in Sri Lanka, but now works as a full time wildlife guide for our local agents there. Upali is a life member of the Ceylon Bird Club and a member of the Rarities Committee of Sri Lanka. |
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Teresa FarinoTeresa is a superb all-round naturalist and environmental journalist who has been living in the Picos de Europa in northern Spain since 1986, where she will again be leading our regular tour. She is co-author (with Mike Lockwood) of the 'Travellers' Nature Guides: Spain'. |
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Bob FordA fine all-round naturalist, Bob was Assistant Warden of Portland Bird Observatory for a time and now lectures in Biology. His calm, relaxed leadership style has found much favour both with beginners and more experienced birdwatchers, and he again leads our New Forest break in July and Dorset break in May. Bob is also a keen computer man, and looks after our much-acclaimed website, as well as running a web-based photographic agency of his own. |
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Keith GrantKeith has lived with his family in Devon for over twenty years and used to edit the Devon Bird Report. He is a keen bird ringer, formerly at Farlington Marshes in Hampshire, and now in South Devon. Apart from passage migrants and a Pied Flycatcher nestbox scheme, his particular interests are in monitoring Barn Owls with the Barn Owl Trust and rehabilitated Guillemots with the South Devon Seabird Trust. He is one of our principal leaders, and his cheerful good humour and keen eye and ear have earned him an enthusiastic following. |
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Paul HarveyPaul moved to Shetland from Dorset in 1984 and has lived there ever since. He was Warden at Fair Isle Bird Observatory from 1989 to 1992 before moving to the South Mainland of Shetland where he worked for Scottish Natural Heritage, managing their superb set of National Nature Reserves. He now manages the Shetland Biological Records Centre. His knowledge of Shetland and its wildlife makes him the perfect leader for our regular trip there in June. He will also be returning to lead on our Spitsbergen cruise, and our tour to Galapagos in October. |
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Dave HolmanDave is a Londoner by birth, and, after fledging, he wasted little time in migrating to Norfolk, where he still lives today. A birder since he was a lad in short trousers, Dave has long been one of the best known and most respected birdwatchers in Britain, having done stints on the London and Norfolk bird records panels, and also on the British Birds National Rarities Committee. |
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Andy JonesNow resident in Iceland, Andy was a warden on Skomer Island, a ranger with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the RSPB's senior investigations officer and a Wildlife Trust director. He trained as a geologist and is an enthusiastic bird- and whale-watcher who has also been known to admire an occasional plant! He guides our tour to Iceland, where his knowledge of geology can really shine, as well as our tour to Norway for Orcas in November. |
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Peter KennerleyPeter lives in Suffolk but had previously spent ten years living in Hong Kong, followed by four in Singapore. His first love is Asian birds and his many trips have included tours to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Peter's expertise extends much more widely than this, however, to include many European and African destinations too. When not away tour leading, Peter is actively involved with British Birds magazine, and is busy penning a guide to some of the world's trickiest warblers. |
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Mike LangmanMike is a superb wildlife illustrator, and you will be familiar with his work that enlivens the pages of our brochure, as well as his magnificent cover illustrations. Despite his busy schedule we occasionally tempt him to put his excellent leadership skills to good use for us, again this year on our tour to Southern Turkey in May. |
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Mike LockwoodMike lives near Girona, where he works as a free-lance author and naturalist, and leads tours regularly throughout Catalonia and Spain. An all-round field naturalist, he monitors butterfly, dragonfly, bird and plant populations for various Catalan environmental organisations, but above all considers himself an entomologist. He will be leading for us again in the Catalan Pyrenees and French Cévennes, as well as in his local area, the Eastern Pyrenees, and his highly succesful tour that he developed last year for us in the remote Pyrenean valley, Val D'Aran. |
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Jamie McMillanJamie has officially lost count of the tours he has led, but still avidly looks forward to the next trip - which happens as the brochure is being written to be Fair Isle, almost his favourite place in the world! He will once again be leading on a Scottish Island cruise in May, when he hopes again to visit his new 'favourite place in the world', the remote isle of North Rona. He much looks forward to his first trip to Spitsbergen when he coleads on our eclipse charter in August. |
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John MuddemanJohn is a freelance wildlife tour guide, author, translator and founder-member of the Spanish Association of Birdwatching Guides. Living in Madrid he is currently co-authoring 'The Birds of the Balearic Isles', and researching for 'A Birdwatching Guide to Central Spain' and the second edition of his first book, 'A Birdwatching Guide to Extremadura', which will be familiar to many who have already discovered the delights of this lovely part of Spain. Judging by all the good things you have to say about him, his all-round natural history knowledge, affable personality and extremely sharp field skills have brought him a well-deserved loyal following. |
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Rebecca NasonRebecca is a keen birder, all-round naturalist and freelance bird photographer who currently lives in Cambridge, but we first met her on Fair Isle, where she spent two seasons as Assistant Warden and Seabird Monitoring Officer. She has led our tours to Lesvos in 2005 and 2006, two with her partner, Philip Harris (another keen birder and naturalist!), our eclipse tour to Turkey in 2006, and Kos last year. She joins us again on Lesvos in 2008. |
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Robin NobleHaving known the Highlands and Islands all his life, Robin is deeply interested in all aspects from the rocks upwards. Having run a Field Centre in Orkney, his enthusiasm for archaeology and wildlife led on to teaching and writing about environmental history at a variety of levels, (including his introductory book 'North and West')... He once again leads our much-enjoyed Wildlife and History Tour in Orkney, as well as returning to the Small Isles of Eigg and Rum, and the Scottish Highlands programme, based at Aigas Field Centre, with which he has a long association. The Sutherland trip explores the great open spaces of his home county. |
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Ray NowickiRay moved to live and work in wildlife tourism in the Highlands of Scotland over six years ago following a period with the R.S.P.B, and now works as a freelance guide. His main interest lies in the wildlife of Scotland but we have tempted him away to lead some of our overseas tours, where we have been impressed with his enthusiasm, leadership skills and abilities as an all-round naturalist. |
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Don OtterDon currently lives in the Chilterns where he works for the National Trust as a Countryside Warden. Birds and mammals are his main passion but he can sometimes be seen watching butterflies, dragonflies, reptiles and even wildflowers. His travels have taken him to North America, Africa, Asia and Europe as well as most parts of Britain. This year he is co-leading our Canadian Rockies tour. |
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Carol ProbetsCarol has been fascinated by birds since childhood. With over 25 years experience birding in the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, she has a thorough knowledge of the multitude of trails and the best places to find birds in this spectacular World Heritage area, and indeed throughout much of eastern and central Australia. For many years an adventure guide, her passion for birds and nature gradually took over and she has been concentrating on full-time birding since 2001. Carol also has extensive experience in banding, wildlife rehabilitation, bird surveying and radio-tracking. She is on the committees of the Blue Mountains Bird Observers and the Capertee Valley Regent Honeyeater Recovery Project. She regularly assists with field research on the Regent Honeyeater including two seasons of radio-tracking these elusive birds. Aside from birding, Carol enjoys regular solo trips into the Australian outback, bushwalking and appreciates all forms of art and music. Most of all she enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for the special places and fascinating birds of Australia. |
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Liz ReadLiz has the patience of a saint - she must have to put up with Mike's constant barrage of jokes! Her interest in natural history has grown since they have been together and she has acquired good skills at identifying Western European plants. Liz's caring and thoughtful manner, and leading with husband Mike, provide the perfect combination of skills for an all-round holiday to destinations such as Southern Portugal, Corsica and the Loire. |
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Mike ReadMike is a man of many talents: an experienced tour leader, an author, and, as he is probably best known, a superb wildlife photographer. He has a number of books to his name including 'The Barn Owl', 'Red Kite Country' and 'The New Forest National Park'. Mike's friendly and easy-going style of leadership and his abilities as an all round naturalist add immensely to the tours he leads in Europe and the USA. All he needs are some new jokes for the returning clients he often gets! Mike's own website is www.mikeread.co.uk. | 
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Phil ReadPhil is a meteorologist whose work has taken him to some far-flung places, including Antarctica. In the past his work has also taken him to the Outer Hebrides, where he again leads our regular tour. He is also a great fan of those other far-flung British Isles, the Isles of Scilly, which he has been visiting for many years, and will be returning to co-lead our regular spring and autumn visits there. |
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Brian SmallA teacher for 11 years, Brian's true love has always been bird art and he now works full time on his illustrative work - when he's not away guiding that is! Brian's current projects include work for the 'Handbook of the Birds of the World', and on major new guides to birds in various parts of Africa and South America. In between times, he likes to sift through gull flocks on the local pig fields - something of a solitary occupation we're told! |
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Greg SmithGreg Smith is in his final year of a 27-year career with the California State Park System. Formerly a park ecologist, Greg is now a superintendent of eight park units, focusing on education on the importance of preserving natural and cultural resources. Greg has birded on all seven continents and has led natural history and birding tours in California, Alaska, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. An avid wildlife photographer, he also maintains a U.S. Master Bird Banding permit. |
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Richard ThaxtonRichard has been a warden at the RSPB's Loch Garten reserve since 1985, often leads their forest walks, and is charged with the welfare of some of its rarest inhabitants, including Capercaillie and the famous Ospreys. Richard joins us to lead in Galapagos and Ecuador. |
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Arnoud van den BergArnoud lives in the Netherlands, where he is editor and founder of Dutch Birding magazine. He's also a top-notch bird photographer, sound recordist and a prolific author, too! Backing up his many talents in the field and enviable linguistic skills, he somehow manages to carry a cavernous rucksack full of state-of-the-art birding gadgetry, the mysterious contents of which help to ensure a great time (or a hernia!) is had by all. |
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Will WagstaffWill is Hon. President of the Isles of Scilly Bird Group and is well known to most visitors to the isles both for his lectures and the regular wildlife excursions that he leads throughout the spring and summer. We are delighted that he will once again be co-leading our groups there. |
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