The Scottish Hebrides by Land & Sea

We spent a magnificent holiday in and around the beautiful Outer Hebrides searching for and watching wildlife (mostly birds and mammals) with an excellent guide who knew the identity of all the 81 species of birds that we saw. Half of our week's trip was spent on a small ex-fishing boat equipped with comfortable (if small!) cabins and washing facilities, and provided with delicious meals. We toured around sea lochs of the Minch and visited the Shiant Islands where thousands of seabirds come to nest. This was an amazing experience. Imagine sitting on-deck with a gin and tonic on a fine sunny, calm evening watching some 30,000 guillemots, razorbills and puffins circling around us and coming in to land on the cliffs just opposite our boat. The noise was almost deafening as they called out to their mates sitting on nests. Then imagine a trip around the islands on a rubber Zodiac boat where the birds were quite unafraid as we approached them bobbing on the water, bathing, preening and diving so close we could have touched them. Magic! The rest of our week was spent ashore, staying in Stornoway and exploring the sights of Lewis and Harris each day to find myriad different birds: magnificent sea eagles, golden eagles plus otters, deer, and the ancient standing stones of Callanish. The itinerary was carefully constructed to provide maximum chance of visiting beautiful and interesting habitats with spectacular views and abundant wildlife, especially birds. The office staff are always friendly and helpful with inquiries, and the tours are provided with excellent, highly knowledgeable guides. Our guide on this trip was a bird expert but also a good all-round naturalist who knew about mammals, butterflies and plants. He was also great company!

S.C. Buckinghamshire, May 23

A really lovely combination of 3 days on board the MV Monadhliath, a converted former fishing trawler, sailing around the Minch, and 4 days on land exploring the Isle of Lewis and Harris. The cruise element was perfect - the small boat gave us access to some really remote and inaccessible lochs along the east coast of Harris/Lewis and north Skye, as well as the west coast of the mainland. We were also really privileged to be able to land on the Shiant islands, as well as anchor there overnight, and spend the evening watching the spectacular flocks of puffins and auks returning to their nests on the islands in great wheel-like formations, to avoid predators. Our guide was so knowledgeable, and patient, and also helped us build a really good group together. The food on board was amazing - hard to believe it came out of such a small galley kitchen. The adventure continued on land as we were able to listen to and actually see corncrakes, red phalaropes and lots of eagles, as well as explore the archaeological and cultural heritage of this part of the Hebrides. A really lovely experience. I love travelling with Naturetrek. The staff are friendly, helpful, pay attention to detail, and have their own expertise in the regions and in wildlife, but mostly, you know you will be travelling with like-minded people in terms of sharing an interest in wildlife and wild places. I've found that the guides enjoy sharing their knowledge, and generally can't do enough for you. The holiday was well priced - really good value for money, with just 6 of us and one guide all to ourselves, plus the crew on the boat. I'm already trying to decide where to go with them next.

C.S. West Yorkshire, May 23

Collected from Inverness station and taken to charter boat at Ullapool with 6 other passengers. We spent the first three days travelling around smaller islands and Shiants looking at birds and cetaceans. Excellent view of dolphins, many seabirds. Well looked after by small crew, chef produced wonderful food from a tiny galley. Landed at Stornoway where we were based in a comfortable hotel. Three days travelling around around Lewis and Harris. Saw white tailed and golden eagles, standing stones at Callanish. We were accompanied by our friendly guide all the way who took us to the best places for birdwatching and shared his extensive knowledge of wildlife. Naturetrek specialises in wildlife holidays. Staff are very helpful, answer queries promptly. They pay great attention to detail which results in well organised holidays in tried and tested locations. New locations are well researched beforehand.

S.T. East Riding of Yorkshire, May 22