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~ Kevin Spindloe ~

Kevin has been birdwatching since childhood, he is originally from Hartlepool and enjoys sea-watching and local patch birding. As an engineer, Kevin has travelled extensively through Europe and North Africa and has always found time to find birds on his journeys.

Kevin set up Cygnus Bird Tours in 2001 after successfully running holidays and short breaks for bird clubs and local organisations. He leads holidays for HF Holidays and courses for the Field Studies Council in Cumbria.

He was also the Project Manager of the highly successful breeding Bee-eater project in County Durham 2002. He has since led projects and surveys for a range of organisations in the north of England. Kevin has also worked on bio-diversity projects and environment consultancy committees, something that he is passionate about and still is involved in today.

Kevin founded the Summerhill (Hartlepool) Bird Club that has been growing successfully over the last eight years. The Club is aimed at those new to birding and intermediates, although the Club also attracts the very experienced birders due to its success.

Kevin is enthusiastic about all birds and in particular bird behaviour. He uses this knowledge and enthusiasm to bring the holidays to life for the participants.

~ Tim Marlow ~

Tim is a very experienced tour guide having worked in Caribbean and Africa in recent years with Bird Seekers and other tour operators as well as being involved in some major expeditions and research projects.

Tim is an excellent naturalist and has a fantastic rapport with birdwatchers from absolute beginners to the very experienced. His knowledge of birds is very extensive and covers all continents of the world. Tim also has a natural ability to pass on his identification and observation skills building the confidence of the participant during the tour.

Tim’s vast knowledge of birds is only part of his wealth of experience; he has extensive knowledge of primates, reptiles and cetacea as well as being an accomplished author. Tim has had an impressive list of publications and co-publications on a range of subjects including some published by Christopher Helm.

Tim will lead tours to the Caribbean, Africa and Poland in 2008 with more destinations in 2009 and beyond.

Key Experience Origination and leadership of wildlife tours to a variety of countries in

Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Participation in several overseas research projects, Millennium Commission

Fellowship Award Winner.

Contract work for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Contributions to several formal papers and two books.

Environmental Impact Assessment surveys, mitigation work, rescue

work and report writing for a number of environmental consultancies.

We provide a telescope on all of our tours for your added benefit; however, if you have your own it would be advisable to bring it along with you. We also bring a range of bird books with us for reference on the tours to enhance the experience.