Europe

The Azores is one of the best places to see whales and dolphins in Europe and the island of Pico is world famous as one of the best locations to see Blue Whales; particularly in the months of April and May. However, Pico has a long whale watching season from April to October and the magnificent Sperm Whale is another species which visits the waters off this beautiful island, with the famous Pico Volcano providing a stunning backdrop to your activities. Over 20 species of whales and dolphins either inhabit or pass by these waters along their migratory routes, so that Pico is one of the very best spots in the world for Whale Watching.

Romania is a fantastic wildlife watching destination in Europe where our partners has more than 20 years of experience. Based on our best knowledge we designed an autumn wildlife watching tour with special focus on mammals and birds. Autumn is migration time for birds and bats so we going to see a good selection of these species but this tour were created to see a good selection of mammal species as well. Some of the mammals are possible in daytime like European Souslik, Red Squirrel, Roe Deer, Carpathian Chamois, Red Fox, Brown Bear, bats in the day roost but no doubt the best time to find mammals is in the dark, at night.

Wildlife Trails first visted Finland in April 2012 with the quest to see three of Finlands apex predators in the atmospheric winters snows. The trip was a huge success with great sightings of Wolverine, Brown Bears and Wolf. Expect your body clock to be completely reversed as you adjust to sleeping through the day and photographing in the late evening and dawn when these iconic predators are at their most active.

Spring birdwatching, gourmet food & wine tasting in the Narbonnaise regional park with two expert local guides accompaning a maximum group size of just 4 people. This tour is not for hardcore birders, but for people wanting to combine the pleasure of food, wine and birding in the beautiful warm and sunny region of Occitanie in May/June 2025.

Allan has had a house in the Languedoc (Occitanie) since 2010 and although mammal viewing options in France are still fairly limited in scope – although the Wolves are coming! – there are some spectacular and diverse landscapes for birding and the region has the highest bird count in France. The food and wine in this region are also spectacular, so for our very first ‘wildlife tour’ in France we are promoting this ‘Gourmet Food, Wine and Birding tour’. This tour is suitable for all fitness levels and is definitly not a hardcore birding trip. Instead it is a gentle immersion into the regions various delights, which include spectacular scenery, amazing regional food, stunning wines, historic Cathar castles and some excellent birding. The tour has a lovely bilingual leader, as well as a charming French female birding guide to look after our small group of 6. Anyone looking to extend their stay or take part in activities close to our hearts – Allan (walking and kayaking) and Kirsty (horse riding) are welcome to speak to us direct about the possibilities.

Iberian Lynx Wildlife Tour – one of the rarest cats in the world and have generally been regarded as very challenging to view in the wild. However a combination of recent conservation initiatives in Spain, depopulation of rural Spain and a strong passion for this beautiful cat from local wildlife guides, has resulted in increased knowledge of its few remaining strongholds. Wildlife Trails has teamed up with a local Spanish wildlife company with many years of leading successful tours to this beautiful region.

Allan did this exact trip in January 2023, so can provide you with detailed information on both the setup of the hides, chances of see this stunning feline (sightings on 3 out of 4 days including mating pairs!). Everything has been done here on this private land to the highest professional level, from the quality of the photographic glass, the location of the hides to see the Lynx walking straight towards the camera and the background work in partnership with WWF, to improve the local rabbit population and encourage more breeding pairs in the area. There is quite high demand for these dates and I am a little late with this newsletter due to my African travels, so if you are interested, please contact us ASAP.

Sleep out with the Muskox in Norway under the Northern lights in this short 3-day tour from Oslo to Oppdal.

If you were taking your first Scotland wildlife holiday and hoping to see some of the iconic marine and terrestrial wildlife, the locations that would be on the top of your list, would be the Isle of Skye and the Isle of Mull; located in the spectacular landscape of Scotlands Western Isles. With luck on our side and some gentle Scottish summer weather, we hope to see and photograph animals such as Sea Otters, Golden Eagles, Sea Eagles, Red Deer, Grey Seals and both whales and dolphins. We have chosen comfortable mid-range accommodation and the services of expert local, friendly guides, to get a glimpse into the secret wildlife world of these spectacular rugged islands.

5 day specialist photographic safari in northern Greece, focussing on Dalmatian pelicans, with other birds species including pygmy cormorant, spoonbill and many birds of prey, such as the Lesser Spotted and Bonelli’s Eagle, Great Spotted Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Hobby, Levant Sparrow Ηawk and Northern Goshawk plus resident coypu and Greece’s largest herd of water buffalo. Glorious land, lake, mountain and sky scapes.