The Tour Leaders And Organisers

Dr. Bob Gibbons (main tour leader, and proprietor of Natural History Travel) has been described as ‘one of Britain’s best naturalists’. He has written about 35 books to date, on many aspects of natural history and photography, including several floras, an acclaimed field guide to dragonflies, several field guides to insects, a guide to the National Parks and wild places of Europe, guides to the wildlife sites of France, Greece, and many more. He took most of the photographs for the widely-publicised Flora Britannica project, worked with Plantlife on a book showing British flowers at their best (Flowers at my Feet, HarperCollins) and writes regular articles for British Wildlife magazine, and other publications. His most recent book on “the most flowery places in the world”, will be published in October 2011, as Wildflower Wonders of the World, simultaneously in the UK and USA.

After working for many years in nature conservation, he is now a freelance author, photographer, lecturer, and a Visiting Fellow at Southampton University. He has led numerous tours to many European destinations, as well as to more exotic destinations such as the Himalayas, Costa Rica, Namibia, Equador, and the Galapagos.

He can be contacted directly for any queries about the tours - see contacts page

John Stobart & Imogen Davenport (Mainland Greece) work in nature conservation in Dorset. Both are excellent and enthusiastic all-round naturalists. John’s particular interests are mammals and birds, and Imogen has a special interest in plants, and they are both closely-involved with the conservation of bats.

Dr. Martin Warren (Picos de Europa) is Director of the charity Butterfly Conservation, and has been involved with butterfly ecology for over 25 years. He is co-author of the Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland, the first Red Data book of European butterflies, and, together with colleagues in Holland, a book on Prime Butterfly Areas in Europe. He has studied the ecology of a wide range of butterflies, and co-led the highly succesful 2002 Maritime Alps, 2004 Dolomites, 2006 North Greece and Romania 2010 tours.

Dr. Dick Hornby (any tour) is a highly accomplished naturalist and ecologist, with a wide range of interests. He divides his time between South Spain and Abu Dhabi, working mainly as an ecological consultant, founder of Nautica Environmental Associates. Prior to this, he was a Deputy Regional Officer with the Nature Conservancy Council in southern England. He has co-led previous tours to Lesbos, Rhodes, Pyrenees, Gargano, the Alps, Namibia and Andalucia.

Peter Marren (any tour) is a well-known writer and naturalist, author of numerous books on a wide range of subjects, notably the recent Bugs Britannica, as well as regular contributions to the newspapers and magazines. His writing is both lyrical and humorous. He is an excellent all-round naturalist, with a good knowledge of european plants and wildlife.

Geoff Crane and Mike Raymakers (South Africa) both live in Cape Town. Geoff runs an excellent local tour company specialising in natural history tours, and his personal speciality is birds. Mike is a freelance tour guide and botanist, with a wide knowledge of South African culture.

Plantlife (Crete) are the only UK charity wholly concerned with the conservation of plants. They can be contacted at 14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury SP1 1DX, Tel: 01722 342730. Website www.plantlife.org.uk