Our Blog Articles posted in Holiday News
Common Rosefinch in Nethy Bridge
Posted by Kevin - 12:44 on 20 July 2011
A lovely and enthusiastic male Common Rosefinch was in Nethy for about a week during June. The bird was first found by Dave Pullan, taking a day off from his Heatherlea guiding duties on our 'High Season across the Highlands' holiday. Using his day wisely...
Nepal 2011 and 2012
Posted by Kevin - 10:31 on 10 February 2011
We had a great time in Nepal recently, travelling across the lowland reserves, with a couple of internal flights to make life easier. With over 300 birds at a leisurely pace during 14 days of birding, this was a great trip in the Heatherlea style - not to...
Last and First birds of the Year - the aftermath!
Posted by Kevin - 15:07 on 07 January 2011
A great birding week, the highlights perhaps being three cock Capercaillie (seen by most but not all guests), and a superb King Eider, close-in and displaying all key plumage features. Other good birds enjoyed by all were Black Grouse, Crested Tit and Gol...
'Last and First Birds of the Year'
Posted by Kevin - 12:49 on 30 December 2010
Everything is ready here at The Mountview, most of the snow has melted, and our suppliers have made sure we are well stocked. Our minibuses have had their PCV check and are ready to roll; Mountview Hotel is cosy and warm, the kitchen is busy, the fir...
Heatherlea spot rare Ocean Sunfish off Isle of Eigg
Posted by Heatherlea - 13:40 on 01 November 2010
We spotted the Sunfish between Arisaig and Eigg while looking for Minke Whales, someone on the boat spotted the fin and called out porpoise but Dave got on to it and realised it was an Ocean Sunfish. We had it next to the boat for 10 minutes giving clear ...
Kevin escapes the office for our 'High Season across the Highlands' week...
Posted by Kevin Shaw - 12:18 on 01 July 2010
Caryl and I began Heatherlea way back in 1991, and in the early years I did almost all the guiding myself. Once I worked for fourteen consecutive weeks without a day off, and by the time that stretch was over I felt I knew the birdlife of the Scottish Hig...
Iceland volcano erupts again
Posted by Heatherlea - 12:16 on 14 April 2010
I’m sure everyone has been following the reports of the volcano that erupted east of Reykjavik last month, the latest news is of a second eruption today. Andy Jones, our leader on all our Iceland holidays, has been keeping us posted with the latest ...
Spring into Scotland w/c 27 March 2010
Posted by Heatherlea - 12:14 on 08 April 2010
Spring is a time of great change here in northern Scotland, as breeding birds begin to settle on territory, winter visitors become thinner on the ground, and summer migrants start to arrive. This cold winter has held the process a week or two, but things ...
Extreme weather in Nethy Bridge!
Posted by Kevin Shaw - 12:13 on 06 April 2010
Since 17 December we have had about 6.5 ft of snow in Nethy Bridge. More than most of us in the village have ever seen, and certainly more than Heatherlea has experienced since we began running holidays in 1991. During our Mountview birding weeks we have ...
Highland Winter Birding (6-13 March)
Posted by John Poyner - 12:08 on 13 March 2010
After the Bird Race week, when we had to contend with a lot of snow and interesting driving conditions, a big thaw began to set in with high pressure dominating for the early part of this Winter birding week resulting in excellent weather through to Wedne...
Top Twenty Highlights
Posted by Heatherlea - 11:45 on 20 February 2010
Heatherlea re-opened here in Scotland last Saturday with the first of our ‘Top 20′ birds and mammals holidays, and we’ve been watching eagles, otters and pine martens! Last weeks wildlife highlights included a family of Otters very close...
North Ron comes up trumps...
Posted by John Poyner - 11:44 on 01 October 2009
Our recent North Ronaldsay and Orkney holiday proved quite exciting! Despite a long spell of strong westerlies our final days on North Ron came up trumps. We managed to relocate an American Golden Plover seen briefly in flight earlier by one of the Observ...
Heatherlea awarded FIVE STARS by VisitScotland
Posted by Heatherlea - 11:42 on 25 September 2009
We are delighted to announce that Heatherlea have been awarded FIVE STARS for our wildlife experience by visitScotland. This is the highest level of Quality Assurance award, only given to those operators found to be ‘Exceptional’ by the assess...
Trinidad 2010
Posted by Kevin Shaw - 11:38 on 12 August 2009
Our 2010 brochure was posted late last week, and guess what? Some holidays are full, and we’ve already got some new ones coming out which missed the deadline. Always happens, the thing is going obsolete before we’ve even posted it. Frustrating...
Romania, Birdwatching in the Danube delta
Posted by Kevin Shaw - 11:36 on 29 June 2009
Just back in the office after a thoroughly relaxing holiday in the Danube delta area of Romania. In my usual selfless manner I went along to experience the trip so that I could tell Heatherlea clients all about it, and enjoyed a really great time.
The ho...
Spring into Scotland!
Posted by Ian Ford - 11:28 on 10 April 2009
What a busy time we’ve been having at Heatherlea. Our Spring into Scotland holidays are in full swing and last weeks group enjoyed the return of the Ospreys at Loch Garten.
Wed 1st April ...
White-billed in the west!
Posted by John Poyner - 11:26 on 20 March 2009
What a great day on Thursday (19 March) on our Highland Winter Birding holiday. We have been watching favoured waters here for some weeks, and finally got our reward - a lovely White-billed Diver! With over forty Great Northerns and a few Black-throats to...
The Top Twenty (7 - 14 Feb) Part 2
Posted by Heatherlea - 11:20 on 18 February 2009
Wednesday 11 Feb
With thick snow still lying we spend most of the morning searching for Caper along local roads. Access is extremely difficult because of the snow making the search more limited. We don’t manage to locate any birds in these extreme ...
The Last & First Birds of the Year
Posted by Ian Ford - 11:12 on 12 January 2009
Last & First Birds of the Year
The Last of the Old Year
We had two days local birding with stunning scenery in a frosty landscape before we bade farewell to 2008. With overnight temperatures falling to –15C and creeping up to about –4C b...
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