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Wildlife Identification Courses in the Cairngorms National Park

If you’ve always wanted to know what the bird calls are that you hear whilst out walking, or to feel confident that you can tell the difference between a buzzard and an eagle as you scan the hills, then our year-long wildlife identification course in the Cairngorms National Park is for you.

We teach you the ‘how to do it’ of wildlife identification, to work things out for yourself, either by sight or sound, whilst you’re out and about. You may wish to join for personal career development, at the start of your career as a wildlife tour guide, or just for your own enjoyment and complete beginners are very welcome.

If however you can’t commit to that length of study, but want to enhance your skills on any aspect of birdwatching, then one of our weekend Masterclasses may fit the bill. We concentrate on a particular group of birds, or a particular skillset, again giving you tips and hints on the ‘how to do it’ of identification.

All courses are led by Speyside Wildlife guides and trainers.

Our Courses

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12-Month Wildlife Identification Qualification

Starts March 2025

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2-Day Raptors Masterclass

15-16 February 2025 and 20-21 September 2025

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2-Day Waders Masterclass

1-2 March 2025

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2-Day Birdsong & Calls Masterclass

17-18 May 2025

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2-Day Wildfowl & Waterbirds Masterclass

TBC

About Us

With over 30 years’ experience in wildlife guiding, Speyside Wildlife has always been focused on our guests, ensuring the quality of their experience through the quality of our guides. Wildlife identification takes skill, but the perfect guide will not only know their wildlife, plants and habitats, they’ll be able to illuminate and interpret the landscape surrounding them. Our Wildlife Identification Courses are tutored by our guides, who are story-tellers and all-round field naturalists.

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What Our Past Students Say

"I had a really good day and the guides are obviously passionate about their subject. They were knowledgeable and patient with questions and seemed to have a genuine enthusiasm for imparting information."

Rebecca,
Raptors Masterclass 2023

"It was great to see the trainers still getting excited about birding and sharing that with participants. The day was great fun as well as being really informative. The opportunity to rest a little over coffee and learn about bird structure was a great time to reflect and use our notebooks. A really excellent first day in the field."

Elaine, 12-Month Wildlife
ID Qualification 2023

"Excellent training particularly the fact that the learning was delivered in a way that made it fun as well as really informative."

Peter, 12-Month Wildlife
ID Qualification 2023

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