all wildlife holidays from the Travelling Naturalist are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority AITO has placed us amongst the top ten member tour operators in the UK, according to their customer satisfaction survey last year

RSPB Butterfly Conservation

Wildlife Trusts World Land Trust

The Travelling Naturalist
our team of leaders

Our leaders are fine all-round naturalists with a wealth of field and leadership experience. It is their expertise and professionalism, coupled with an easy-going and flexible approach, that is probably the most important factor in the success of our tours. We also, where possible, link up with local experts to ensure really top-quality local information.

Peg Abbott Peg has been leading wildlife tours for over 20 years in diverse areas from Alaska to Argentina. She runs her own tour company, Naturalist Journeys, who we team up with for our US tours.
Charles Anderson Chas is a professional marine biologist who has lived and worked in the Maldives since 1983. He is the foremost authority on both cetaceans and fishes in the Maldives, and the pioneer of whale and dolphin watching there. In addition to numerous scientific papers, he has published a series of six guides to the marine life of the islands.
Dick Askew Dick has been absorbed in natural history for as long as he can remember. As a boy he walked and cycled around Tyneside and Northumberland and collected butterflies, moths and other insects, birds' eggs, pressed flowers, kept jam jar aquaria and vivaria, went bird-watching etc., and drew and recorded observations. But entomology always came first, and led to his lifelong work on the biology and taxonomy of parasitic wasps, that he continues to this day. A particular interest in dragonflies was sparked by the rich fauna of south-west France, and the absence of a comprehensive guide stimulated the production of The Dragonflies of Europe (1988). He will be leading our Dordogne dragonflies tour in June.
Mark Ayre Originally from the UK where he worked as a warden on bird reserves, Mark came to New Zealand some 27 years ago and settled by Lake Wanaka in the heart of the South Island mountains. Mark now runs a yacht charter business on the lake, an alternative energy consultancy, and the family run a kennels and cattery, which are situated on their rural property overlooking the Hawea River. A keen birdwatcher for most of his life, Mark is very active in the local Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, and is particularly involved in the conservation management of the endangered Mohua (Yellowhead). He joins us to lead our November bird and wildlife tours of New Zealand.
Chris Charlesworth Chris began birding at the age of ten, with a passion for birds that has remained with him and ultimately inspired him to guide birding tours. He lives at Kelowna in British Columbia (where we spend two nights on our Canadian Rockies tour) and has travelled widely across his native North America. His knowledge of North America's birds and their calls is excellent - and with a little coaxing, he may be persuaded to demonstrate his repertoire of 'owl imitations' on tour, said to be quite entertaining!
Liz Charter Liz 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, a keen gardener, and a fan of island life, having lived with her family for ten years on Orkney and more than ten years on the Isle of Man, where she currently works as a professional conservationist. This year she will again be leading a tour for us on her home patch there, as well as our tours to Crete and Western Greece.
Robin Chittenden Robin lives in Norfolk, with a wide-ranging repertoire of tours and excellent all-round wildlife experience. Well known as a top wildlife photographer, he is also a photographic consultant for British Birds and one of the wildlife photographers for Natural England. He has written a book on birds of prey, and took the majority of photographs that appear in Stephen Moss's Blokes & Birds. In between, he somehow manages to find time to carry out freelance work as a bird surveyor and has even stepped in occasionally to help out at the well-known Pinkfoot Gallery in Cley, Norfolk.
Stephanie Coghlan Stephanie is an excellent all-round naturalist and a highly experienced tour leader. She has run her own wildlife tour company for over 20 years, the well-known 'Snail's Pace', and has led tours worldwide. 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 Macedonian Greece tour.
Callan Cohen South Africa-born Callan has more than 20 years experience of African birding. He lives in Cape Town, and has spent more than ten years leading tours across the continent. His all-round ability in the field and excellent people skills have earned him a deserved reputation as one of Africa's foremost birdwatching and wildlife tour guides. Callan has acted as a consultant to the BBC Natural History Unit on the birds and wildlife of the Cape Town area (with those famous Cape Dwarf Chameleons now on the big screen), and last year flew to Japan to advise Princess Takamado (President of BirdLife International and a keen birder) on South African birds.
Barrie Cooper Barrie has had a lifelong interest in nature. Birds such as skylarks, lapwings and yellow wagtails enthralled him as a young boy growing up in Lancashire. But a picture of a Cock-of-the-Rock triggered his love affair with foreign birds. He has since visited many countries in search of birds. He works as the RSPB's International Education Manager and this gives him the chance to combine his passions of wildlife, nature conservation and travel. This year he will lead our tours to Belarus and the Seychelles.
Andrea Corso Andrea is one of the leading voices in birdwatching and conservation in Italy today. A prolific writer, he is author of the Avifauna di Sicilia and has written or co-authored a further 300 or so other books, papers and articles. Andrea lives at Siracusa in southeast Sicily, watching birds and enjoying life, and says he would never change this town for any other... and having been there ourselves, who can blame him! Andrea's natural enthusiasm, infectious humour (plus Italian charm) make him an ideal leader of this tour - one that he originated and first led for us in April 2010. He may even sing for us on tour!
Geoff Crane Geoff spent his early years in East & West Africa and the Seychelles, where he developed a keen interest in natural history, with a special interest in birding & botany. Before settling in Cape Town Geoff travelled to over 40 countries around the world, experiencing the different cultures and exploring the diverse natural history of each country. Geoff runs his tour company, Crane's Cape Travel from Cape Town and is a knowledgeable natural history leader with 20 years experience in leading tours throughout Southern Africa.
Stephen Daly A 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. This year 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.
Steve Duffield Steve has lived in the Outer Hebrides since January 2005 and began leading tours in March 2007 after spending two years working for SNH in the Uists as a 'Goose Officer'. He is also keen on many other aspects of wildlife in the islands including the cetaceans, moths, butterflies and the flowering plants – especially the orchids. He will again lead our Outer Hebrides tour in June.
Tim Earl Tim 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. His travels have taken him to several African countries, Australasia, Scandinavia and Russia, North America and the Neotropics and many places in mainland Europe. Tim's outgoing and informative style, enthusiasm, experience and humour are always greatly appreciated by our clients.
Gary Elton Gary served as warden of a local nature reserve in north London, having lived and birded in the capital for over 35 years. A former Herts Bird Club committee member and contributor to various birding publications, he now lives in Norfolk, playing an active part in the local birding scene.
Bob Ford A 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.
Keith Grant Keith 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 will be leading our Trinidad & Tobago tour in January.
Daniel Green Daniel is a friendly and outgoing local Swedish birder, who designs and leads our Swedish itineraries for us. A birdwatcher since early childhood, he is still mad about Cranes (his favourite bird), owls, butterflies & moths, and feeding birds in wintertime. He has also spent 12 years as a gourmet chef, has been a newspaper journalist/photographer and more recently editor of a Swedish Bird Magazine.
Paul Harvey Paul 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. He will be leading our tours to Borneo, Cambodia and Cyprus.
Martin Hrouzek Aged 39, Martin lives on the Czech-Slovak border. He has been guiding wildlife tours since 1996 and is a good all-round naturalist but with a particular knowledge of birds, butterflies and flowers. He now runs his own specialist wildlife company and specialises in tours to those few remaining unspoiled and seldom-visited 'hidden corners' that have been disappearing fast in Europe. As a forestry graduate Martin also loves to share his knowledge of the natural forests of eastern Europe and the Balkans. Having led our Slovakia butterfly groups in the past, in 2012 he is leading a trio of exciting new tours: to Slovakia for birds and dragonflies (June) and our two visits to Macedonia (in May and June).
Andy Jones Now 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 tours to Iceland, where his knowledge of geology can really shine, as well as our acclaimed tour to the Faroe Islands
Peter Kennerley Peter lives in Suffolk but had previously spent ten years living in Hong Kong, followed by four in Singapore. When he's not busy leading tours, Peter is assistant editor of the highly respected journal British Birds. Above all, Peter is passionate about Asian birds and wildlife, and is a veteran of more than twenty visits to the Indian Subcontinent. Our February 2012 tour will be Peter's 10th visit to Sri Lanka.
Mike Langman Mike 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 – we think he has excelled himself again this year! 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.
Mike Lockwood Mike 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 our popular Dragonflies of Catalonia tour again this year.
Lucas Marti Lucas started to lead birding and natural history tours to Antarctica but soon branched out to lead wildlife tours to Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Presently Lucas continues doing research on birds, and he is now involved in some bird monitoring programs carried out by the National University of La Plata. Lucas lives in the city of La Plata, with his wife Macarena and his two sons. He leads our Brazil 'Jaguars and Harpy Eagles' tour in September.
John Muddeman John 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.
Chris Murphy Chris lives with his wife, Doris, on the coast of Co Down in Northern Ireland. Originally from Liverpool, he is one of the co-founders of the Oriental Bird Club and several other nature conservation organisations. The highlight of an overland expedition from Liverpool to Annapurna was meeting Doris on a sewage farm in Munich! Chris has led our tours in Ireland and we are delighted to welcome him back for another round of tours in 2012, including the French Pyrenees and Bulgaria in spring.
Rebecca Nason Rebecca is a keen birder, freelance ecologist and professional bird photographer who currently lives in Suffolk, 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 since 2005, with her partner, Philip Harris, seen together in the photo on our Spitsbergen trip in 2008. Phil is a firefighter, and an avid birder, with a passion for all aspects of natural history, spending much of his spare time out in the field ringing and carrying out bird surveys.
Robin Noble Having 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, and the Scottish Highlands tour based at Aigas Field Centre, with which he has a long association.
Ray Nowicki Ray has been living and working in Scotland for several years and his work has always involved the special wildlife of the Highlands and Islands. As a professional freelance wildlife guide Ray also undertakes wildlife survey work, which can take him to areas anywhere in Scotland, east to west coast and many sites in between. In addition he leads a number of European tours for us throughout the year.
Gabor Orban Gabor Orban is a professional all-around naturalist guide leading birding, butterfly, mammal and botanical tours both in Central Europe and Americas. He spends half the year on each continent, migrating each year, he says 'like a bird' – but he hasn't told us what species he is like! He is one of the brains behind Ecotours Hungary and, in addition to our Hungary autumn tour will be leading tours for us to Slovakia and Transylvania.
Bert Palthe Bert is a long-standing registered South African Tourist Guide and has a wealth of experience, both in tourism and wildlife conservation. After qualifying as a specialist in Nature Conservation he went on to manage exclusive private game reserves in South Africa's Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces. Bert is now a full-time tour leader based in the Magaliesberg. He has a passionate interest in wildlife, birds and nature conservation in general, and will be leading our Kruger and Drakensberg tours in 2011 and 2012.
Liz Read Liz 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 Corsica, Vercors and the Camargue and Pyrenees.
Mike Read Mike 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 elsewhere. All he needs are some new jokes for the returning clients he often gets! Mike's own website is www.mikeread.co.uk.
Gail Richardson Gail Richardson is from Bozeman, MT, where she is a freelance guide and an avid conservation and political activist. An excellent naturalist and historian, Gail has led tours in Yellowstone, the northern Rockies, and the Southwest for over two decades. She was one of the first women to work as a winter snowcoach driver in Yellowstone National Park. She has a particular love of the canyon country of Utah, where she will be leading our September tour.
Luis Segura Luis leads and organises all our trips to his native Patagonia as well as Argentina and Brazil. He is an excellent naturalist with a special interest in birds and cacti, and has devised our acclaimed 'Cacti and Wildlife' tour to northern Argentina in November.
David Simpson David Simpson has lived in France for ten years. He now lives and works in the Dordogne region where he runs a holiday cottage and guided wildlife tour business. Previously he worked for over twenty years as a warden on various sites of the coastline of northern England and latterly in Mauritius as island warden for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation at Ile aux Aigrettes. He has published several articles in British Wildlife and most recently the book 'Birding Dordogne' in the popular BirdGuides series.
Brian Small Brian lives in Suffolk. A teacher for 11 years, his true love has always been bird art and he now works full time on his illustrative work. Brian's current projects include work on major new guides to birds in various parts of Africa. In between times, he likes to sift through gull flocks on the local pig fields - something of a solitary occupation we're told!
Greg Smith Formerly a park ecologist with the California State Park System, 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.
Attila Steiner Attila has been a keen naturalist and birdwatcher since childhood. Before joining Ecotours Hungary he worked for WWF Hungary on species conservation. He has travelled extensively through most of Europe, Asia and Africa and will be leading our tours to Belarus and Montenegro/Albania.
Melanie Stephen Currently a medical student, Melanie in a previous life was a contract ecologist and botanist in the central North Island. Melanie has always had a passion for learning about and protecting the New Zealand natural environment. Since completing a botany degree in 2002, Melanie has undertaken varied work in a range of different places, with most of the work experience being as an ecologist undertaking botanical and ecological survey and assessment. Melanie will be leading our Flowers and Wildlife tours of New Zealand.
Peter Taylor Peter is 'our man in Australia'. Originally from Stockport, Peter spent his teenage years at Adelaide in South Australia and has since birded extensively across this great continent. For the last ten years he has lived in the tall timber country of Manjimup, to the south of Perth in Western Australia - a hotspot for endemic birds and plants. Having forsaken a comfortable career with the government to follow his true passion for birds and birdwatching, Peter now works full-time as a bird and wildlife tour guide and will be leading our 'Birds and Total Eclipse' tour there in November 2012.
Richard Thaxton A warden at the RSPB's Loch Garten reserve since 1985, Richard often leads their forest walks and is charged with the welfare of some of its rarest inhabitants, including Capercaillies and the world famous Ospreys. Richard leads our trip to Guyana in 2012. This will be his second visit to this remarkable country.
Gareth Trewartha Gareth is Greek – but as you might have guessed his ancestry is Welsh! He guides and arranges our acclaimed 'Wildlife and History tours to Western Greece, Greek Macedonia and the Peloponnese, where his amazing all-round historical and natural history knowledge is put to the test.
Arnoud van den Berg Arnoud lives in the Netherlands, where he is chief 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.
Deirdre Vrancken Deirdre lives in Cape Town (South Africa), where she assists both as a guide and in the office at Birding Africa. She specialises in the continent's mammals, rating Gorillas, Chimpanzees and lemurs among her favourites. Her previous work in research includes studies of Man's closest living relatives, Bonobos, in the jungles of the Congo. Fluent in English, French and Dutch, Deirdre regularly teams up with husband Callan (Cohen) to lead our trips to Uganda and Tanzania, where her special interest in mammals adds an extra dimension to the tours.
Will Wagstaff Will 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 leading our groups there.
Mike Williams Mike is a long standing member of the national charity Butterfly Conservation and has held various positions both locally and nationally, including for many years Chairman of the national Conservation Committee. He has led butterfly tours to many different parts of the world over the past ten years including Borneo, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Ghana. Last year, he successfully combined witnessing the incredible migration of the Monarch butterfly with the no less impressive journey of the Grey Whale to Mexico and this is the tour he will be leading for us in 2012.