Wildlife Travel news

Trip reports from our June visits to the Aragonese Pyrenees and to Lake Neusiedl and the White Carpathians (where the above photo of a newly-emerged Apollo was taken last week) are now available to download from our website, along with those from many other Wildlife Travel trips.

We already have confirmed departures for 2013, to Tasmania in January and to Costa Rica in February, as well as taking bookings for our April return to Galapagos. Further details of our 2013 holiday programme will be finalised over the next month or two: check our website for details, or get in touch if there is any particular destination you would like information about.

Meanwhile, I must go back to my packing... next stop, Botswana!

Aragon 2012

Aragon 2012, a set on Flickr.

Aragon 2012: 2nd June

Our last full day in Spain, and what a day. We headed up to the top of the valley, first by bus and then walking.

Blue skies, beautiful landscape, Apollo butterflies on the wing, Alpine Marmots whistling at us inbetween mouthfuls of grass, superb flowers everywhere, a young Golden Eagle playing with the Choughs and 8 sightings of Lammergeier during the afternoon, including one adult who came through the valley at eye height. The thunder storm that crashed over us as we returned to the bus only added to the climatic atmosphere of the day. Superb. Thankyou to Lucia and Imanol for making our stay such a success.

Nachste halt, London.

Aragon 2012

This year's return to the Aragonese Pyrenees is going amazingly well. Superb weather (the key to all things, these days!), nice folks, and all going without a hitch: the main problem seems to be dragging people away from the flowers to actually get back to the hotel before dinner!

A superb Lammergeier came overhead yesterday, followed by around 100 Griffon Vultures and a couple of Egyptian Vultures; Citril Finches feeding on the roadside this morning; Spanish Chalkhill Blues on the wing at the far northern end of their range; and, after teasing us with an hour's wait, a superb male Wallcreeper flopping his way over the cliffs and rocks in front of us, allowing everyone to get good binocular views as he fed in the crevices and pulsated his red flashes across the rock face.

But for me, it's going to be hard to beat this rather splendid Fire Salamander, of the boldly striped local subspecies Salamandra salamndra fastuosa. "Salamanders can sometimes be found resting under logs like this one..." A brilliant beast.

Aragon 2011

The latest of our photo galleries to go online is photos from our May 2011 recce visit to the Aragonese Pyrenees. We shall be returning to the Echo Valley in May/June 2012.

Coming soon... Portugal, Spitsbergen and Bulgaria

Aragon 2011, a set on Flickr.