www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Can anyone recommend companies that do tours for wildlife in Europe or further afield especially for butterflies and birds?

Given that I've done 30 odd tours for them, Ian, I'd say Greenwings (especially for butterflies).

EBG have a page dedicated to various companies offering tours, although it hasn't been updated since Covid hit in 2020:

http://www.european-butterflies.org.uk/holidays.html

Hi Ian
I can recommend Greenwings, I have been on 4 tours until now with them, and have ordered my 5 trip in june 23, all the tours has been well orgnaized

John

Thanks for the helpful comments.

Hi Ian
I've done tours with both Greenwings and Naturetrek. Both excellent in different ways. Naturetrek tend to be slightly more expensive, but they book your flights for you too.

Greenwings is a slightly smaller company, and therefore is slightly more personal in its service, but you do have to book your own flights.

I've heard good things about Wild Echo and other companies also, but never been on their trips.

The real key is the guides, whichever company you go with. I'm very lucky, I've never had a bad one. Indeed, all have been excellent, on the 12 trips I've done.

Hope this helps
Best Wishes
Paul

Thanks Paul.

Mario, the main guide with Wild Echo, is as good as it gets. He seems to know exactly where to find stuff and also makes sure everyone eats well. Highly recommended!

Tony M.

Hi Ian

I have been with Wild Echo five times and agree with Tony, Mario is very, very good. Also Dobry, the owner of Wild Echo is equally as good.
I'm looking to book again next year.

Maurice

Thank you Maurice.

I have travelled with Greenwings, Naturetrek, Greentours, British Bulgarian Friendship Society, Wild Echo and with an indpendent guide to Poland. I've had a mixture of experiences from the good to the bad. Best guide I have been with was Tristan Lafranchis and the worst was a guide who took us to the sites but was an alcoholic (luckily, we had a different driver). It got really bad as we sometimes had to take ourselves out as he could not get out of bed and was often pretty aggressive to us. All tours were good for seeing butterflies, but of course they were weather dependent to see the maximum number of species, but not necessarily manage to photograph them all. It is good to go with a group but you do have to realise that often you will have to wait your turn to get a photo and the butterfly could well have flown off or have been spooked by the time you get your turn. It is good to have an experienced guide who knows the sites and is easy to get on with, especially as you may have people who are less experienced or not fanatical butterfly enthusiasts. One other problem is when a tour combines two subjects such as Butterflies/Birds or Butterflies/Botany as there are specialists requiring the leader's time in both subjects, but if there are two leaders this will not be a problem. You can of course miss your target species but generally you get an enjoyable holiday and see a lot of interesting species in beautiful habitats on a planned tour.

Regards
Mike