Welcome
Welcome to the Oriole Adventures website, offering information on all our bird watching tours for the forthcoming season. With our wealth of knowledge of all our destinations, expert guidance, small groups, luxury minibus transport and passion for providing the best quality bird watching tours at the best value prices, its easy to see why we are emerging as the company for your UK based bird tour! Please browse the following pages and look at what we have to offer in 2008, with the traditional Norfolk breaks from our base in East Barsham supplemented by some new offerings with Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, East Yorkshire, Dorset, Isles of Scilly and Northumberland featuring in our UK programme.
We welcome birdwatchers of all levels of age and experience to join our small, like-minded and friendly groups, as our ethos is to ensure that our clients not only enjoy their break with us but learn more about bird identification and field craft from our expert guides. Your tour guide will be able to advise you on issues such as bird guides, optics, clothing, and any other aspects that may enhance your birding, and for the more experienced observer, we can help you improve your knowledge and enjoyment of birding by discussing topics such as field craft, call, behaviour, migration, weather patterns, moult and ageing. These skills can only be learnt from an experienced guide, and coupled with our detailed knowledge of the sites and species, means that travelling with us means you are going to see more birds, and visit more hot spots than if birding on your own.
Finally, we believe that above all, small groups are invaluable to providing successful bird watching tours. Our minibus can carry 8 participants so this is a maximum but it should be noted that because we run such a large number of dates for Norfolk trips our group sizes are typically 4 - 6. This means fewer people per guide, a more personal service and above all more chance of seeing the birds you want to see and learning more from your leader.
The White Horse Inn and Fieldview Guest House, the bases for our Norfolk tours, are situated in East Barsham in beautiful North Norfolk. Our clients are offered comfortable 4 diamond AA and tourist board graded accommodation with the attentive and friendly service of our Oriole Adventures team throughout your stay. Home cooked food is the backbone of the White Horse menu, and makes the inn a success not only with our bird watching clients but to most of Norfolk! Rooms are tastefully furnished and all en suite, and there is nothing better to round off a day in the field than a pint of real ale from the well-stocked bar!
East Barsham is perfectly situated for birding in Norfolk being equidistant from top birding spots such as Cley, Titchwell and Holkham with easy access to both the brecks and the broads. With our own ringing site along the river just a few hundred metres away, our clients not only have exclusive access to the wet meadow habitat and its birds but during summer our evening ringing sessions may sometimes coincide with your visit giving the opportunity to study a range of species in the hand. Brambling, Snipe, Teal, Little Egret, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Grey Wagtail, Yellowhammer, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Common and Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Turtle Dove, Barn Owl and Grey Partridge are just some of the species present at the relevant times of year around this beautiful and quiet hamlet.
We no longer charge a single supplement for our Norfolk tours, further adding to the value provided to our clients. It should be noted that this is VERY unusual for bird tour operators though as single travellers make up a large percentage of our client base, we feel it is important to give them the best deal possible..
We work very closely with Fieldview Guest House, situated just around the corner from the White Horse and if we cannot provide accommodation at the pub then we offer guests the opportunity to stay with Simon and Christine 'next door'. In a very quiet location, with views across the fields down to the stream from the breakfast room, fieldview is a very comfortable and professionally run guest house of a high standard. Guest staying here still dine with the rest of the group at the pub, and we collect from the guest house in the mornings for the daily tours.
Our UK tours meet on location but we also offer clients the opportunity to travel from Norfolk with Ashley, or occasionally pick up points are available en route. For the north-east tour, we meet in Norfolk as a group on the day of departure. For guests arriving at any rendezvous point by public transport, speak to us in advance to find out the nearest rail or bus station and we will make every effort to collect you, when possible.
Our UK tours use good quality accommodation in the best possible location for exploring the designated area, and we always use accommodation with en suite facilities. All of our UK tours are led primarily by Ashley Saunders, who has birded extensively in the regions that we visit.
Ashley Saunders is principal guide for all Oriole Adventures tours both in Norfolk and around the UK, and the owner of the sole proprietorship. At 24 he is one of the youngest guides in the industry (if not the youngest!), but with 18 years birding experience around Britain, Europe, Africa and North & South America and five years of running Oriole Adventures, he is not only a very accomplished tour guide but has a handy knack of finding rare birds which is always a bonus on our tours! With Pine Bunting, Red-rumped Swallow, Gull-billed Tern, Subalpine Warbler, Grey Phalarope, Wryneck, Ortolan Bunting, Glaucous Gull, Yellow-browed Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Common Rosefinch, Richard's Pipit, Little Bunting and Temminck's Stint among his more recent achievements, you can see why he remains so popular with our clients! Ashley is also the person you will speak to when you book your tour.
Adrian Riley joins the team this year to lead our July Butterflies & Dragonflies tour in Norfolk. Adrian is well known among the birding fraternity for his year listing attempt in 2002 which led to the publication of his book 'Arrivals and Rivals'. However, it is insects for which he has his qualifications and his knowledge of moths, butterflies and dragonflies is outstanding. With several books on the subject already under his belt, his new title 'British Butterflies' is on sale soon.
Our association with the international Welsh based tour company, Celtic Bird Tours, means owner and tour guide Neil Donaghy will be co-leading our trips to South Wales, Cornwall & Scilly and East Yorkshire next year. With a similar style and company ethos, our co-operation with Celtic can only enhance what we have to offer and Ashley will be leading their tours to Extremadura, Romania and South Africa in 2008. A true Welshman, Neil is a great leader who always proves popular with participants and his unrivalled experience is a major asset to us. Tours operated in conjunction with CBT in 2008 also include our North-east tour, Solway and Mull.
Paul Roberts will be leading our tour to Extremadura again this year, alongside Ashley. Paul led our successful 2006 visit to this bird-rich region, and his knowledge of the wildflowers as well as birds added an extra dimension to the holiday. Paul is a freelance environmental consultant and tour guide, and lives in Bridgend in South Wales.
