Scotland in Style

Red Grouse © Andrew Whittaker

Based in a single hotel offering good accommodations and excellent food, close to many prime birding sites. Great birding for Scottish specialties and other birds and wildlife, with opportunities for cultural and historical visits as well.

This very special week of birding and history in the heart of the bonny Highlands is based in the picturesque town of Grantown-on-Spey. Our varied daily program is planned to appeal to both birders and their non-birding partners and travel companions.

The scenery here is the most dramatic in the British Isles: snow-capped peaks, wild moorlands, ancient Caledonian pine forests, a coastline studded with cliffs and inlets, vast peat bogs, and crystal-clear rivers. Our birding will focus on such rare and local specialties as the Black Grouse, Rock Ptarmigan, Red Grouse (the British [sub?]species of the Willow Ptarmigan), the endemic Scottish Crossbill, Ring Ouzel, Crested Tit, Arctic and Red-throated loons, and raptors including the Red Kite, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, and Golden Eagle.

In addition to these prized regional specialties, we can count on finding many more widespread birds, among them perhaps the Eurasian Woodcock, Tawny Owl, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a whole range of colorful tits and finches. Our base in historic Grantown puts us within easy reach of Cawdor and Urquhart Castles, the Culloden Battlefield, Loch Ness, and even some of Scotland’s finest whisky distilleries.

Good accommodation and excellent food with no hotel changes; physical demands light, with some optional early mornings and evenings out; pleasantly cool weather, typically in the 50s and 60s F, with occasional rain possible.

Cawdor Castle © Andrew Whittaker