News / New company promises wildlife tours with a difference
A NEW wildlife tour business is being launched in Shetland to capitalise on the growing trend for outdoor and activity holidays.
Shetland Walking and Wildlife is run by tour guide and author Graham Uney who is in the process of relocating from the small west coast island of Canna to Shetland.
Uney has written two books on the northern isles (‘A Portrait of the Northern Isles’ by Halsgrove Press, and ‘Walking in Orkney and Shetland’ by Cicerone Press), as well as countless magazine features focusing on the natural world in Shetland.
He said he was confident of being able to bring something new to the market.
“Yes, there are other land-based companies running wildlife tours in Shetland, but by and large these are aimed at the serious ‘twitcher market’.
“While there is definitely scope for that approach here in Shetland, I’m much more interested in leading walks, rather than chasing around Shetland in a van armed with a tick-list of birds to see.
“My ethos has always been about the quiet, out-there-in-all-weathers approach to wildlife watching.
“My wildlife day tours are essentially about going for a walk with a guide, looking for wildlife along the way, and discovering something about their ecology, the local biodiversity, and the pressures that our wild creatures face in the modern world,” he said.
Uney is a qualified mountain guide and also an accredited provider of National Navigation Award Scheme courses, and has run all levels of map and compass skills courses throughout England, Wales and the Highlands.
“I’m keen to bring these NNAS courses to Shetland, as at present there are no other companies offering technical outdoor courses such as these in the northern isles, and I feel there is a growing market in this area,” he said.
Shetland Walking and Wildlife is being launched in mid October, at the same time as he and his wife Olivia move to the Westside.
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