Roy Atkins
We've known Roy for over 25 years. He's a great all-round naturalist
and years' of experience in the world of teaching have made him
a great people person. Our guests travel with him again and again
to far-flung places such as Costa Rica, Tanzania, the Pantanal and
British Columbia. His sense of fun and knowledge of birds, plants
and animals make him a very popular leader.
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Simon Eaves
Simon is one of Speyside's keenest birdwatchers. He knows as
much as anyone about the wildlife of the Scottish Highlands and has
a real interest in scarce birds, mammals and identification challenges
- with him as your guide you'll learn a huge amount about Speyside.
That doesn't stop him taking guests further afield for us however,
to places such as Tarifa/Donana and the Isles of Scilly.
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Craig Round
Craig loves Speyside and the Scottish Islands and has led tours in
Scotland for nearly 25 years, taking our guests regularly to Mull,
Shetland, Fair Isle and the Outer Hebrides. He has a great combination
of field naturalist skills, outgoing personality and incredibly sharp eyes;
along with an astonishing knowledge of birds, mammals and insects.
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Darren Rees
Darren is a great birder and quite simply fun to be with. He has led
countless groups for us in Arizona, Texas, California, South Africa and
Namibia. This year he will be taking guests to Colorado, Yellowstone,
Extremadura and Spitsbergen. He is also a talented artist: ‘Bird
Impressions' is his acclaimed collection of bird paintings and his latest
book ‘Ice Bound' follows his exploits in Antarctica'.
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Julian Sykes
A native Yorkshireman, Julian now divides his time between there
and Spain, so is the perfect guide to take you on our Andujar,
Extremadura and Pyrenees holidays. Not that this stops him from
leading tours to British Columbia, NE India and Wrangel Island. He
has a lifelong interest in wildlife and his friendly outgoing nature makes
him a very popular guide and ideal member of the team.
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Sally Nowell
Sally has travelled extensively to pursue her interest in wildlife
watching, particularly birds, and has been based in Speyside for the
last 22 years, so has an excellent knowledge of Highland wildlife. Sally
is a keen walker and loves to try and get off the beaten track to
discover the hidden corners of the Highlands. She co-leads a number
of our Scottish holidays.
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Tim Drew
With 30 years' experience behind him, Tim is a passionate ornithologist
and a keen all-round naturalist who was born with 'binoculars around
his neck'. He enjoys nothing more than exploring places in search of
birds, butterflies and all other beasties and sharing his knowledge with
others. He has a soft spot for the Scottish Highlands and Islands, but
has also travelled widely throughout Europe and Asia.
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David Hull
David has a background in education and his roles as a wildlife guide and conservationist benefit from his enthusiasm for teaching and lifelong learning. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of Scottish plants, birds, mammals and butterflies during our Day Guides and he also guides our Evening Mammal Watching and Badger Photography experiences.
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Stuart Housden
Stuart started birding at the age of seven, becoming a regular at Dungeness from nine onwards, ringing migrants and exploring southern England. His passion for birds and nature led to a 41-year career with the RSPB, 23 years as Director of the organisation in Scotland - few people know Scotland as well as Stuart! Stuart has birded in over 50 Countries and is a trustee of a major conservation project in the Atlantic forest of Brazil.
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Harris Brooker
Growing up around Banff in Aberdeenshire, Harris is a well-rounded naturalist with a wide interest in nature and a particular passion for wildlife, botany and astronomy. His fascination with wildlife has taken him all over Scotland and the wider UK as well as overseas to destinations such as Norway, Spain, Portugal, Florida, Canada and Sierra Leone and has plenty of aspirations to see more! Harris is our Evening Mammal Hide guide, based near Aviemore and you will also find him supporting our Wildlife Identification Courses and Guided Day Out.
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Ailie Brown
Ailie grew up in the Highlands and has lived in Speyside for six years. She studied Zoology at Aberdeen University before interning at Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve as a Grazing warden and more recently she managed the Tropical Butterfly House at Landmark, Carrbridge. Ailie has a great interest in bird watching and identifying wildflowers and butterflies too! Ailie leads on the administration of our Guided Days Out as well as guiding our local guests in the Cairngorms during their days out.
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Jonathan Willet
Jonathan has been working as a wildlife guide for 25 years and has always worked up in the Highlands and Islands. He loves the opportunity to share the majesty of the wonderful wildlife we have with our guests and of course the stories that go along with! He is an all-round naturalist but specialises in dragonflies and can usually fit them into a conversation somewhere. Jonathan has worked with Speyside for over 12 years, guiding and also helping to develop our Wildlife Identification Courses and assessing the students during their final exam……. He also does an excellent imitation of an Eider Duck.
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Sally Dowden
Sally owns Speyside Wildlife and is still very much hands on in the organisation. Responsible for the smooth running and complex logistics of the business, she recently instigated a wildlife identification course, designed to fill the lack of ‘on the ground' identification skills in the Cairngorms, which is run by two of our wildlife tour guides.
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Lisa Gunn
Lisa has been with us for over 14 years now and is responsible for all the
accounting and systems management. Along with the daily accounting
processes, company pensions, wages, budgets, contribution schedules
and VAT, she organises the hide and vehicle logistics, all of which help
to keep her busier than ever!
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Susanne McCafferty
Susanne has been with us for over thirteen years. Born and bred in
Speyside, she deals with all aspects of a selection of our Scottish and
UK holidays, such as Orkney, Wales, the Scillies, Northumberland, the
Outer Hebrides and Mull, as well as organising the day guiding in the
Cairngorms and further afield.
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Tania Pedersen
Tania is one of the voices you'll hear when you call our office. She
deals with all aspects of administration to ensure you have all the
information you need for your holiday, organising all our overseas
trips, dealing with the complex logistics of the long-haul destinations,
while still finding time to manage the European destinations.
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Cath Wright
Cath leads on our marketing and deals with our design work, website and organises our guides to deliver presentations to bird
clubs, various exhibitions at birding fairs, plus our own events up and down the country. Her background
in hospitality and marketing, means she is best placed to ensure we get
to see as many of you as possible around the UK and also to handle our tailormade itineraries.
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