Destinations
The air holidays shown are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 3253. ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom. Click on the ATOL logo if you want to know more.
News
This autumn's French Pyrenees holiday is now one day earlier than the brochure dates, namely 7 - 14 September, due to changes to flight schedules from Stansted to Pau Pyrenees. We can also offer flights from Gatwick or Bristol to Toulouse. Four places remain.
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BirdLife International estimates that more than 200,000 seabirds die each year at the hands of EU fishing boats. Please sign its pledge here to the new Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, urging her help to stop this slaughter. |
A first black woodpecker for the UK in Cumbria was reported to BirdGuides last week. The lady was cross-examined and the description was spot on. It turned out that BT is rather protective of its Cumbrian telegraph poles, and has for years been placing black woodpecker models on them to deter great spotted woodpeckers.
Updated by Chris Durdin, 2 March 2010
Madeira news: Honeyguide's group on Madeira coincided with the storms and mudslides (see BBC report here) that affected the island; the group was safe and they are now back home. The capital Funchal and the south was hit worst. The group was staying near Santana in the north, though was heading into Funchal on the worst day of rain. Leader Hugo was driving and decided that they would be wise to return to the north of the island. He had passed his video to Honeyguider David Melzack, in the front seat of the minibus, who captured the striking shots with Hugo's camera here (this link may not work in some web browsers). The 'boiling' river was taken by Hugo outside the vehicle. Inevitably, the weather meant the group's itinerary was changed and wildlife sightings were affected, but highlights still included many Madeira firecrests and being surrounded by a school of pilot whales at sea.
Updated by Chris Durdin, 5 March 2010
We have three new web pages, and they could hardly be more different.
| Orchids are a great feature of our Dordogne holiday, with 12 species at our base at Castang and another dozen not far away. Enjoy them online here or, better still, there are a few places remaining on this holiday. |  |
| A cuckoo's song in spring is a minor third. But this musical interval crops up elsewhere in nature, too. Can you shed light on this mystery? Thoughts from naturalists or musicians are equally welcome on our latest page in our nature notes. |  |
| ATOL matters: the initials and acronyns around holidays with flights (ATOL, ABTA, IATA etc) can be confusing. With Honeyguide, consumer protection comes from our Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL), from the Civil Aviation Authority. The Government is now consulting on extending the respected and effective ATOL system to include non-flight packages, which we'd welcome. More on our new ATOL web page. |
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Biodiversity is life: how much do you know about conservation challenges for the house sparrow, red squirrel, tansy beetle and black poplar? It's the International Year of Biodiversity and Natural England is highlighting England’s native plants and animals for which conservationists are making the difference between survival and extinction. See 'species of the week' - click here to read more.
Updated by Chris Durdin, 4 February 2010
Climate change: there are clear changes in the natural world, like expanding ranges of Cetti's and Dartford warblers, little egrets and speckled wood butterflies. Naturalists know how wildlife responds to these subtle changes, so gives us a head start in recognising the reality of climate change.
The wintry weather has brought a few wildlife highlights too, but inevitably it's prompted a few comments such as 'so much for global warming'. This may be in gentle fun, puzzlement or can be cynical. Honeyguiders have a role in combatting cynicism: the evidence for climate change is too clear to dismiss, even though it's modest at the moment compared with what is predicted. Some nuggets to lob back at doubters: there's a difference between weather (today) and climate (long term trends); polar ice and glaciers are retreating; we've seen or heard about many severe weather events in recent years.
Our first 1,000 Honeyguide lapel badges have finally run out, but we have more. Our suppliers didn't get the best of colour matches for the pink honeycomb but they are pretty striking-looking. You're welcome to one if you've lost yours or just fancy the new one in deep pink.
Weevil threatens Cretan palm
The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus poses a serious threat to the endangered Cretan palm Phoenix theophrasti, which occurs only on Crete
and in south-western Turkey. Honeyguiders know the grove of Cretan palms at Souda, just west of Plakias. Members of Flowers of Crete have found specimens of the weevil elsewhere on Crete, alerted the authorities and set up an online petition to raise awareness of the weevil's threat. To read and sign the petition click here
Updated by Chris Durdin, 12 January 2010
Honeyguide supports South African Bird Atlas. Scroll down to 'latest news' on the SABAP2 website or go straight to the full story here.
How long does it take for a red-footed falcon to cross the Mediterranean and the Sahara? Three days, according to researchers of MME/BirdLife Hungary (BirdLife in Hungary). They tagged eight adult female red-foots with the world’s smallest satellite transmitters. Weighing only 5 grams, these state of the art devices tracked Heni, the fastest female, who covered 7,000 km to Angola in just 16 days. The EU LIFE-funded project's website is www.falcoproject.hu
Updated by Chris Durdin, 17 December 2009
What's the butterfly below / on the right? It's a slightly trick question. Click on the picture to read more. Next chance to see something pretty similar to this (perhaps a hint?) will be in Madeira in February.
Staying in Madeira, Europe's rarest breeding seabird, once thought to be extinct, is the Zino's Petrel or freira. Endemic to Madeira, the first-ever documented at-sea record of Zino’s Petrel was this April. Read more on the website of our holiday's hosts, Hugo and Catarina of Madeira Wind Birds.
Check out our Calendar to find out which holidays still have places.
Humphrey Kay, 1923-2009. There are some fascinating obituaries to Honeyguider Humphrey – who so freely shared his knowledge of and enthusiasm for moths (see this in the Independent, for example) and butterflies – on Radio 4's Last Word, in the Guardian, the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald and The Times online. Sallie has our very best wishes; she has kindly let us add to this website Humphrey's wonderful cautionary tale for Christmas called 'Frederick Worms'. Read it here...
Updated by Chris Durdin, 23 November 2009 and 17 December
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I was in Poland in late September, and very good it was too. If you'd like to read my recce report, click here. Alternatively, start by reading about Białowieża and beavers. We have just two twin rooms remaining on the holiday.
Have you ever seen a nun's fart? We asked Honeyguide leader Chris Gibson for his top 10 reasons for visiting Menorca. See his answers here.
Has your brochure arrived? It should have, but with postal problems it's tough to be sure. If it hasn't, please get in touch for another. We are very happy to accept bookings from a completed booking form scanned and emailed with a deposit paid by bank transfer. With a postal strike looming, the shape of things to come?
Bookings are coming in steadily but places remain on most holidays (exceptions are Extremadura, Central Portugal and Eastern Greece). If in doubt, please phone or email.
Updated by Chris Durdin, 19 October 2009
Honeyguide's brochure for 2010 has just been posted and this website updated so we're up and running for next year's programme. There's a list with dates on our calendar. Several Honeyguiders are already pencilled in. You'll see there are new holidays in Central Portugal, Poland and Kruger National Park in South Africa.
The brochure is in colour throughout for the first time, reflecting nature's colour as we do already in our recent holiday reports and on this website. I hope you enjoy browsing the brochure, updated website, or both.
Credit for the new brochure design goes to David Abery at our printers, Gowise, which is just a short (though very uphill!) cycle ride away from the Honeyguide office. It has the an FSC recycled paper logo on the back. It's always been printed on recycled paper but Gowise have gone through some extra hoops to be able to use the FSC logo. Read more here.
The brochure comes in a plastic wrap, oxo-degradable film for the first time this year. This decays in landfill much quicker than standard poly bags. I've been asking for a more environmentally-friendly outer for many years and happily at last this is getting easier, helped by others like local authorities and wildlife trusts requesting it, according to Cavalier, Honeyguide's mailing house at Rackheath just outside Norwich.
- In Extremadura, click here to see SEO's web pages (in English) about current threats to the wildlife - with a request to sign a petition.
- The Wildlife Outreach Network in Essex is kindly supporting the Honeyguide Wildlife Charitable Trust this coming year again, and will be topping up our conservation donations to projects in Portugal, the Spanish Pyrenees, Bulgaria and the French Pyrenees.
Updated by Chris Durdin, 17 September 2009
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Would you like to search this website? We don't yet have a search function, but if you type into Google site:honeyguide.co.uk plus your search item - e.g. site:honeyguide.co.uk wallcreeper it searches www.honeyguide.co.uk
Our latest Nature Notes page is the story of how crown daisies, a Mediterranean wild flower, grew in the Norfolk Broads for three years.
Also new: more on birds in Kruger National Park, South Africa.
At his local pub after his return from Madeira, John Durdin was presented with the cartoon above. Click here or on the cartoon to see it bigger.
Goshawk in wintry Poland
(Artur
Wiatr, Biebrza Explorer)
What's the link between a forester moth on a pyramidal orchid and some sheep? Find out on our new web page about brebis sheep in the Cévennes, one of our Nature Notes collection.
Cretan palms near Plakias
Click on the picture or here to read more.
Following our Poland recce we have new web pages about beavers in Poland here and pictures of Białowieża forest here
For a second - but last - time, the Honeyguide brochure was sent to former travellers with Gullivers Natural History Holidays, by kind arrangement with Bob and Jacky Gulliver. If
Gullivers travellers would like to keep receiving the Honeyguide brochure, please contact us.
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We have a web page about red and black bugs - click here or on the picture.
