Who We Are

Neil Gartshore is the principle guide for the business.  He has travelled in search of wildlife for nearly 30 years, visiting many parts of Europe and further a field  to South Africa, Kenya, USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Japan. He has led trips in the UK, South Africa, Japan, Lesvos, Mallorca and mainland Spain. 

Neil was born in Leicestershire where his natural history interest developed at an early age. Working in the banking industry he spent holidays volunteering on nature reserves, including Handa Island where a fascination for seabirds began. A move to Shetland in 1981 continued this interest and led to a career change in 1983 when he took up his first conservation post on the Farne Islands, returning in 1984 & 1985. 

A three month break to South Africa in the winter of 1984/85 hooked Neil on the country and he returned in 1986 to work for the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology. Based in Cape Town, the post included 14 months studying seabirds as a field research assistant on the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands. 

Returning to the UK, Neil next took up an RSPB contract in the summer of 1988

on Coquet Island and then ran the 1988 season’s seal work on the Farnes Islands before, in 1989, beginning a 17-year stretch with the RSPB. Contracts on the Mawddach Valley and Minsmere were followed in March 1991 with an assistant warden’s post on the heathlands at Arne in Dorset. Over the next 14 years he progressed to the post of Senior Warden at Arne before becoming the Dorset Reserves Manager in 2005. He left in June 2006 to take some time out with his young family and to develop other interests. 

Experienced at leading guided walks in the county, Neil also runs birdwatching classes from time to time. He keeps in contact with his conservation roots by working on a freelance basis as a bird surveyor - recent work has included surveys in Poole Harbour, Brechfa Forest (Wales) and along the Solent.

He has been involved with the Dorset Bird Club for many years, and in the past spent three years as the Dorset County Bird Recorder. In March 2010 he took on the post of Chairman and he continues to manage a project to input the clubs' old paper records onto a database.

Another project he is presently undertaking is the writing of a ‘Best Birding Sites in Dorset’ guide for Buckingham Press.

In 1997 Neil established Calluna Books, specialising in buying and selling out of print natural history books. Visit  www.callunabooks.co.uk for further details.

Hengistbury Head

Raft spider

Greenshank