LATEST news

February 2010

HEATHERLEA CAPTION COMPETITION

In January we issued our latest newsletter detailing new holidays and all the latest Heatherlea Information. We also included a Heatherlea Caption competition and were delighted with the response. We received many amusing and inventive entries and had a difficult job picking the winners! Two lucky winners won a ‘Bring a friend Birding’ prize for their efforts, and the winning captions are detailed below.

WINNING CAPTIONS

"FOR THINGS YOU THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER SEE YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED HEATHERLEA" D S Cambridgeshire

"I SEE THAT NESSIE HAS DECIDED TO FIND OUT WHAT A FIVE STAR WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE REALLY MEANS" D M Herts

25 Sept 2009 HEATHERLEA AWARDED FIVE STARS

Heatherlea (Scotland) Ltd, Nethy Bridge, have long been one of the best known names in Scottish birdwatching holidays. We are today delighted to announce they we have been awarded a coveted five star grading by visitScotland. This is the highest level of Quality Assurance award, only given to those operators found to be ‘Exceptional’ by the assessors. 

Heatherlea are only the second to achieve this very high level, and indeed the only wildlife operators on the Scottish mainland to be awarded five stars.

Heatherlea co-founder Kevin Shaw said ‘the award of 5 stars is a fantastic achievement, well-earned by our dedicated team. We have always set high standards for our days in the field, and our birding guides and hotel staff thoroughly deserve this recognition’.

Heatherlea are about to celebrate their 20th season of wildlife watching holidays in the Scottish Highlands, and Kevin said the award couldn’t have come at a better time. ‘In difficult trading conditions, we are marketing very hard to ensure a great year for our 20th anniversary. We already have more advance bookings for Mountview Hotel in 2010 than at this stage in any previous year, and this award will help confirm our strong position as market leaders in Scottish wildlife holidays’.

‘Independent accreditation is very important to us’, said Kevin, ‘because our customers are well-informed and discerning. They recognise good value and will always prefer high quality and good service. Our award can only be good news for Scottish tourism in general’.

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1 January HEATHERLEA BLOG

The new Heatherlea blog is up and running, please travel to our home page and click the link. We will occasionally update this 'Latest News' page, but the blog gives more options and you can reply and ask questions too, so our efforts will mainly be there. Hope you like it!

18 December Great News from Kenya!

Back in November 2007 we enjoyed a great holiday in Kenya, remembered as the 'White Hippo Adventure' by those who took part. During our visit to Lake Baringo, we met Julius and Cliff, two top-notch local birders who run a guiding service with all earnings going to their community. We were all struck by the ability of these two local experts, and the enthusiasm of the community for wildlife as a source of tourist income. We were surrounded by children, who knelt barefoot in the dusty scrub while Julius showed them the African Scops Owl in his battered field guide, to confirm the views they had enjoyed through Kevin's scope. What was missing though was optical equipment. Julius and Cliff had two pairs of broken bins, each with just a tiny part of one lens working.

We resolved to help them - with proper equipment they could do even better, and so chances of increasing their earnings and caring for wildlife would be even greater. Kevin made a promise to donate two pairs of good quality bins and a telescope to the community, and regular Heatherlea readers will remember that we carried the story in our Newsletter written early in December 2007.

Almost as soon as we got home however, political problems made it very difficult to move goods into Kenya. With the help of friends inside the country and at BirdLife International, we eventually managed to get the equipment into Nairobi, only to face further delays and payments as we tackled customs and other duties. Yesterday, after a full year, Cliff and Julius finally took delivery of the vital binoculars and telescope they had waited so patiently to receive. Here are some photos sent to us by Nature Kenya, who kindly held the goods until the pair could make the journey to receive them.

Naturally we are absolutely delighted. In late 2010 we hope to organise a return to Kenya, which amongst other things will include big game at Masai Mara, and a visit to the community at Lake Baringo. After all, we were shown Heuglin's Courser, African Scops Owl, Greyish Eagle Owl and White-tailed Nightjar amongst many others, all in a couple of hours and in broad daylight - well worth a birding visit. In the meantime, we hope Julius and Cliff enjoy using the equipment, and that any readers of this note will choose them if visiting the area. Please contact Heatherlea for details, anyone can hire their services.

What a pleasure at this time of year to hear some good news!

12 December Have a great Christmas, see you in the New Year!

A genuine and heartfelt Christmas wish and thank you to all our customers, not least those who have chosen Heatherlea for 2009 or are planning to do so. In these difficult times, we are working hard to ensure our holidays offer the same value next year as in those gone by, and our key team are already in place. Our excellent chefs Lee and Graeme will be here again, and familiar faces around the Lounge, Dining Room and Bar areas will be Tina, Fiona, Lucka and Christine. Long-serving (suffering!) Head Cook Margaret will be on hand early in the morning, and Amanda, Emma and Isabel will be keeping Kevin in order in the office. Caryl is already making jams and jellies, and also organising a refit of part of the public area. Our guides are picking their favourite holidays, and Ian, Jonny, John, Josef, Dave and Mike are all excited about next year's birding and wildlife prospects. Altogether there are over twenty of us in Scotland alone, here to help you enjoy a fantastic experience in the Highlands. Our forward bookings already guarantee that every week will be running, and we can't wait for our 19th great birding season to begin.

The Red Squirrels are around and inside our feeders, the mountains are covered in snow, and the berries are attracting winter thrushes. We hope the holiday period brings everything you might wish for yourselves, and look forward to your company sometime soon. Merry Christmas!

Heatherlea Christmas Party

27 November New holidays and special offers

Two great new holidays from Heatherlea in 2009 are now available and already filling fast. Click the link on our home page to find out more!


CAPERCAILLIE SHORT BREAKS - by popular demand, we have launched three short holidays in February, with the 'Horse of the Forest' in mind. As well as Capercaillie, you will look for Golden Eagle, Crested Tit, Scottish (Parrot) Crossbill, Black Grouse and the wintering ducks, gulls and divers of northern Scotland.

NATURAL HISTORY of NORTHERN SCOTLAND - another itinerary we have been promising for years, to see the birds, mammals, insects and flora of the Highlands in one great week. Many rarities and much sought-after species are included in our itinerary, please take a look.

Both holidays were launched to our 'Been Before' customers a few weeks ago, and regular clients of Heatherlea have already snapped up most of the places, so don't delay, these holidays will fill soon.

12 September AA visits Mountview Hotel

STRONG AA ENDORSEMENT FOR MOUNTVIEW HOTEL

Early in September we received our regular visit from the AA Inspector. The Mountview passed with flying colours, both for Hotel accommodation and for good food. The official report says;

'This was a most enjoyable visit and obvious strengths include attentive service and genuine hospitality. The impressive merit score of 78% shows the hotel has the potential for a grade of three stars'. Our Restaurant food is confirmed yet again at ‘two rosette’ standard, a high grade enjoyed by very few places in Speyside. The same chefs cook for all our birdwatchers too!

We take this independent assessment very seriously. Anyone can make claims for their accommodation and food, but VisitScotland and the AA are two senior bodies who assess Heatherlea in a proper, unbiased manner. This independent view from industry experts is worth a lot more, we suggest, than the opinion of the person offering the service. We have never met anyone who doesn’t care about these things when they arrive for their holiday!

We are also pleased that our wildlife experience in the Heatherlea minibus has FOUR STARS from VisitScotland. All these standards are readily available to every holiday operator, so please compare Heatherlea to anyone, and let us know if you find a comparable holiday at a higher standard – we want to improve further.

Two of our popular front of house team have retired after years of loyal and hard working service. We held a celebration BBQ party, with presentations and speeches, toasts were made and poetry was read.

Morag wrote ‘How can I thank you for such a lovely party last night? It was a very happy evening and I very much appreciate all the work involved. I will remember my happy days with you all at The Mountview, and may you, the team, keep going together as you do have something special!’

Things continue as normal at Mountview, as we welcome back Lucka (wife of Heatherlea guide John Poyner) as Supervisor, and Renata after the birth of baby Emilia, to our enthusiastic and capable team. Morag and Renata are pictured here.

20 August ANOTHER GREAT BIRDFAIR, THANKS FOR COMING!

It was great to see so many of you at the recent British Birdwatching Fair in Rutland, thanks to all those who came to our stand for a chat. By Sunday afternoon we were very tired but very happy, thanks again for the many nice things that were said, and for booking so many holidays at the event.

Kevin's talks again drew great crowds, and Heatherlea continue to contribute in more ways than one with sponsorship of the Lecture Marquee and by donating a holiday into the Birdfair Auction. This is a great fun event which does a lot of good for important conservation causes: we are delighted to support the British Birdwatching Fair!

13 August 2009 BROCHURE

Our 2009 brochure is now available to download from our website. Packed full of new holidays and old favourites - visit the homepage to download a copy now! Use the enquiry form on this site to get more information, including a comprehensive EXTRA PACK for overseas and GO FURTHER! itineraries. We are always available on 01479 821248 - please just ring!

Where will you go birding in 2009? Let Heatherlea help you decide! We look forward to welcoming you.

26 May Heatherlea Guide and his unusual house guests on BBC TV!

Heatherlea resident guide on the west coast of Scotland, Matt Wilson, has shown many of our guests Pine Marten, Otter, Golden Eagle and White-tailed Eagle over the years. We always have a great day with Matt, who lives and works intimately with wildlife here and seems to know their every move. This year, Matt and the wildlife became even closer, as a female Pine Marten decided to raise her family in his loft! A camera was soon installed, and some of the fascinating results can be seen tonight on BBC Springwatch.

Matt says 'It was fascinating to watch the mother bringing voles and small birds into the loft, to be quickly snatched by the kittens. As the young martens grew, we could always tell from the noise when they were playing - it can be confirmed that they sleep during the day and play at night!'

We believe that this filming of a marten's den inside human habitation is unique, and with 64 hours of film taken so far we are hopeful that we can edit the film for you all to see in the future. In the meantime though, why not join Matt yourself? Matt will be present as usual on our 'Top 30' holidays in summer and also on our 'Top 20' holidays in October and November. Although these kittens will be long away from the den, we have a virtually 100% record for seeing martens over the last few years -you can see our itinerary on this website, and we still have a few places - come and see for yourself!