MID WEEK BIRDWATCHING BREAKS IN JUNE 4-7 2024 & SEPTEMBER 10-13 2024

JAMES CHAMPION, YOUR LOCAL BIRDWATCHING GUIDE

 James Champion has been birding in Galloway since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and he knows many of the hidden sites that make this area such a magnet for birds throughout the year.  He is a passionate wildlife enthusiast with a long and fascinating pedigree.  His great grandfather George Charles Champion was a renowned entomologist who spent the years 1879 to 1883 collecting insects in Guatemala and Panama, and then working for the rest of his life in the Natural History Museum in London, cataloguing and describing more than 4,500 new species for science. James went on an incredible journey in Central America in his great grandfather's footsteps in 2011, searching for and finding a butterfly, Drucina championi, which his great grandfather had discovered on the slopes of a volcano in Guatemala in 1880, and which had only been seen twice in the intervening years.

James is frequently to be found in India, where his grandfather, F W Champion OBE IFS, campaigned vigorously for the protection of tigers and other wildlife in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.  FWC was the pioneer of tripwire photography in India, a system that is now known as camera-trapping and is one of the key tools in the struggle to protect India's priceless wildlife heritage today.  His astonishing images, obtained using primitive and cumbersome glass-plate cameras, graced the front covers and interior pages of publications such as the Illustrated London News, Country Life, The Field, and Indian State Railways Magazine.

James has always been fascinated by wildlife, in particular birds and butterflies, and is the guardian of much of his forefathers' legacy.  With the use of diaries, letters and other historical documents, he managed to retrace some of his grandfather's journeys in India, even recreating a trek that his grandparents and father (aged 8) had made to the Pindari Glacier, in the Kumaon Himalayas, in October 1936, staying in the same bungalows and photographing exactly the same scenes precisely 70 years later to the day, in October 2006.  James loves to share these tales with others, and he will give an illustrated talk on his Indian journeys during the weekend.

James is by training a university English language teacher, and this role has allowed him to spend extended periods in many different countries, providing opportunities for the observation of wildlife in six continents.  He has also worked for many years as a wildlife tour organiser and guide, a role that he relishes and which allows him to share his passion for natural history and his knowledge of birds with other wildlife enthusiasts.

How the break works ? 

As well as the time spent outdoors in search of the birds, James will host two evening talks, one on the basics of birdwatching, focusing on app’s, bird books and optics, as well as the birds of Galloway, and the other on one of his amazing travels in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a pioneering early wildlife photographer and tiger conservationist in India in the 1920’s, or his great grandfather, who was an entomologist who travelled by mule through the wilds of Central America in the 1870’s and who named more than 4,500 new species of insect.

Arrive in your own time on Tuesday, rooms will be ready by 2pm for check in. Meet for introductions and pre dinner drinks at 6.30pm / dinner at 7pm followed by coffee and an introductory talk from James

Wednesday breakfast from 7.15 to 9.15 before departing with car sharing at 10am. A packed lunch is included and expect to return around 5pm

Pre dinner drinks at 6.30 before dinner at 7pm follow by coffee and talk

Thursday same arrangements as Wednesday - locations for birdwatching will be weather dependent

Check out after breakfast on the Friday morning

cost £395pp based on 2 sharing a twin or double room / £450 pp single room

price includes 3 nights dinner, bed and breakfast, 2 packed lunches, pre dinner drinks reception along with after dinner talks and your very own guide

READ THE OCTOBER BIRDWATCHING BREAK REPORT HERE TO GET A TRUE FEEL OF THE FEW DAYS

*We hope that you won’t mind car sharing as we go around the region and we can sort our logistics on the first night