NEW! - Capercaillie Short Break

Tues 10 feb - Sat 14 feb

Tues 17 feb - Sat 21 feb
Tues 24 feb - Sat 28 feb


Price £445pp, no single supplement

If you have ‘Been Before’, you can take a further £25 from the price shown. There is no single supplement, and singles are never expected to share at The Mountview Hotel. ‘Worldbird’ guests can save a full £100pp – see 'Special Offers' for details.

Lots of you busy birders have been asking for more short breaks here at The Mountview, so we have devised this new short holiday to give you the very best winter birding. We hope to round up all the British birds found only in scotland, paying special attantion to Capercaillie, and expect a wide selection of winter birds at the coast too.

Key elements will be;

* EARLY STARTS (but not too early in Fenruary!) for Capercaillie. We make Scotland's number one target bird our number one target in this exciting bird-packed break.

* THE MORAY COAST, where thens of thousands of duck, divers, waders and gulls will be wintering.

* LOCAL SPECIALITIES, including Black Grouse, Crested Tit and Scottish/Parrot Crossbill.

* THE GLENS, where Golden Eagle will be returning to traditional sites and young birds will be roaming the skies.

ITINERARY

Day 1 (Tuesday)

Arrival, welcome, dinner and briefing. Don’t forget our courtesy collection service from Aviemore.

Day 2 (Wednesday)

Our award-winning hotel is right in the middle of the best birding habitats, and we begin with an early start (perhaps around 7 am), visiting local spots for Capercaillie. We hope to see both male and female birds on this holiday, and the birds are just a few miles from our base. Later after breakfast we head into the hills to search for Golden Eagle.

Day 3 (Thursday)

Black Grouse before breakfast, then a full day on the Moray coast, where we expect to see thousands of Long-Tailed Duck, Common and Velvet Scoter at close quarters. Three diver species, winter gulls including Iceland and Glaucous, wintering farmland birds including Tree sparrow, Twite, Corn Bunting and Grey Partridge, it's a great day birding!

Day 4 (Friday)

Capercaillie again, then off to the nearby Abernethy Forest to look for Crested Tit and Scottish/Parrot Crossbill. By now you will probably have seen Red Squirrel from our Hotel Dining Room, though you will probably see more today, and also Roe Deer. If the weather allows, we will head for the hills to collect Ptarmigan too - a great way to see all the scottish specialities!

Day 5 (Saturday)

Breakfast and departure. Don’t forget our courtesy return service to Aviemore.

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