Tour Leaders
Libby Weir-Breen
Libby set up Island Holidays 19 years ago with Shetland naturalist, the late Bobby Tulloch, MBE. Her own experience in the travel industry goes back to 1977 when she left her job on The Scotsman newspaper to become a resort representative in St Anton in the Austrian Tyrol. Since setting up Island Holidays she has travelled widely both researching and leading tours. A passionate conservationist and campaigner for trade justice, Libby has a love for the natural world and feels herself privileged to be able to express this through her work and to share it with so many like-minded people.
Libby is leading our tours in Crete, The Azores, Romania and St Helena
Karon Brock
Karon has been with Island Holidays for 12 years except for a few years' absence to look after young Shane who came into this world in May 2000. Born and raised in Dublin, Karon moved to enjoy the bright city lights in London for a few years before coming to settle in Comrie. Her warmth and efficiency are well known to our clients and she's invaluable to the business.
Mark Brazil
Mark is undoubtedly the leading British ornithologist in Japan where he lives in the country's most northerly island, Hokkaido and was, until recently, Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation at Rakuno Gakuen University. Educated at Keele and Stirling universities, he earned his PhD for work on avian ecology and behavior in Iceland. His work, involving ornithological research and guiding TV naturalists and wildlife photographers has taken him to all continents. A regular contributor to BBC Wildlife, Mark is also author of several books including A Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia and a regular columnist in The Japan Times.
Steve Cale
Steve is not only an excellent birder and tour leader but also a well-known bird artist. Passionate about birds, the environment and conservation, his travels have taken him all over the world from Australia to the USA, from Africa to the Caribbean and all points in between! His distinctive artwork is inspired by his travels and features in many publications including several books and is much used by conservation organisations such as the RSPB and several wildlife trusts. Apart from all that, Steve has a wicked sense of humour and lots of energy which not only informs but entertains our clients in a unique way!
Steve is leading our tour in Cyprus
Pete Clement
Pete is a professional ornithologist with English Nature and author of several books including Thrushes of the World. He has been leading for Island Holidays regularly for many years. A seasoned traveller with over 25 years' experience in the field, Pete has travelled widely in Africa as well as to many other countries and islands.
Fergus Crystal
Fergus has been a birder since the age of 4! Born and brought up in Scotland, he has travelled extensively and worked on numberous orthinlogical studies in Botswana, bolombia, Kazakhstan and Israel. He recently spent four years in southern Kyushu in Japan studying relatively little-known birds such as the Copper Pheasant. Far from being a "bird nut", Fergus is interested in the many aspects of nature, archietecture, literature and film-making of the places he visits. He's a natural tour leader and a welcome addition to our team.
Fergus is leading our tours in Costa Rica and Spain: Extremadura
Steve Duffield
Steve has worked for various conservation organisations around the country, including spells on the Shetland Islands, Skomer in South Wales and Donna Nook in Lincolnshire. He moved to the Outer Hebrides in January 2005 where he has developed a passion for the wildlife of this extensive island chain. His main focus is on birds, although he is also very active in other fields; he is the county moth and butterfly recorder and very interested in the fascinating flora of the islands. Steve lives in South Uist where he runs his own company offering wildlife tours.
Steve is leading our tour in the Outer Hebrides
Keith Fairclough
An honours graduate in Biology and former secondary school teacher, Keith found his niche with the RSPB, for whom he worked for 29 years as warden, senior site manager and latterly as special projects manager. In 2007 he established his own ecological consultancy. An all-round naturalist, Keith is recorder for a number of invertebrate groups in Orkney where he has lived for 24 years. His infectious passion for wildlife and conservation is imparted enthusiastically and with a wicked sense of humour. He has travelled extensively and has worked on bird projects in countries as diverse as Holland, China, Tanzania, USA and Bolivia.
Keith is leading our tour in Orkney and Shetland
Teresa Farino
Teresa first visited the Picos de Europa area of Spain in 1985 when she went out on a university Field Trip. It was to be a life-changing experience - she fell in love with the place! Having returned several times, she could stay away no longer and so gave up her job in nature conservation and moved to the Picos. Teresa is an experienced tour leader and is also author of two leading guide books and many wildlife articles about the area. An all-round naturalist and experienced traveller, her first passions are flowers and butterflies - but she's pretty good on her birds as well!
Teresa is leading our tour in Portugal
Neil McCulloch
Neil is a member of the Biodiversity unit at the Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service. He has previously worked for RSPB, BTO and BirdLife International and has been involved in several bird conservation projects world-wide over the past 20 years. These have included the Seychelles Magpie Robin recovery programme and long-term research on the St Helena Wirebird. He also has substantial experience of birding in Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia and the Gambia. Neil is the author of a recent field guide to the birds of St Helena and Ascension Island.
Neil is leading our tours in Ascension Island and St Helena
Andy Mitchell
Andy has been a member of the Island Holidays team for longer than either of us care to remember and is an experienced ornithologist and tour leader. He moved to Orkney in 1990, working at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory, then as the RSPB warden on Egilsay for seven years, followed by a couple of years as their Corncrake supremo in the islands. He's now working part-time with Island Holidays from his home on South Ronaldsay - the wonders of technology! He's one of those people with whom it is great fun to travel and he enjoys all aspects of the places he visits - not just the birds.
Adrian Pitches
Adrian is the BBC's Environment Correspondent in North-east England. He graduated from Exeter with a degree in biological sciences but became a journalist instead! Over the past 30 years he has travelled extensively both in the UK and Europe as well as in Africa, Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Madagascar has been his favourite 'island holiday'. He is co-author of Birds New to Britain and writes the monthly News and comment column in British Birds. He lives on Tyneside with his journalist wife, Pauline, and their two daughters.
Adrian is leading our tours in Northumbria and Namibia
Roger Riddington
Roger has lived in Shetland for over 10 years, for the first four as warden of the Fair Isle Bird Observatory. Following a period as manager of the Shetland Biological Records Centre, which he set up from scratch, he took on the role of editor of British Birds magazine. He is a co-author of the recently published Rare Plants of Shetland and of the forthcoming Birds of Shetland, a member of the Scottish Birds Rarities Committee and a Trustee of Fair Isle Bird Observatory.
Roger is leading our tour in Shetland
Ken Shaw
Ken worked for the RSPB for 27 years, latterly as senior site manger at Vane Farm Reserve, Loch Leven in Scotland. Since leaving the organisation he was been working on conservation projects in Central and Eastern Europe making him the ideal leader for our new tour to Latvia. A consummate ornithologist, Ken has served on the British Birds Rarities Committee and the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee and for eight years he was the county recorder for North-east Scotland. He is widely travelled in the Western Palarctic, Asia, Africa and America and is an excellent travelling companion.
Ken is leading our tour in Latvia
Will Wagstaff
Will has been leading with Island Holidays for many years, not only on his home islands of Scilly but also to the Falkland Islands and many other destinations world-wide. One time Conservation Officer for Isles of Scilly Environmental Trust, he has lived and worked on the islands for over 25 years. In the summer months he is to be found running Island Wildlife Tours through which he shares his knowledge and love of Scilly with hundreds of visitors each year, while in the winter, when not there, you're almost certain to bump into him in the Falklands and he's liable to pop up almost anywhere!
Will is leading our tours in the Falkland Islands, the Isles of Scilly and South Africa
