Wildlife of the Hampshire Downs

Dates & Prices

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Botanical Tours – See Wild Flowers with our Expert Botanical Guides
There are few more pleasing sights in the natural world than a meadow filled with wildflowers. Seeing plants in their native habitat is always exciting and our flower tours offer you an incredible choice, from dazzling tropical blooms and the thrill of finding elusive orchids or delicate alpines, to seeing island endemics or British flora. Our tours range from week-long holidays focusing on the ‘Alpine flowers of the Swiss Alps’, the ‘Italian Dolomites’ and the ‘Alpine Flowers of Slovenia’s Julian Alps’, to orchid-hunting on Italy’s Gargano Peninsula and searching for the Autumn Plants of Greece’s Peloponnese. We also visit more remote areas of the world in search of plant-life, from the Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakhstan where we look for wild tulips, to the rainforests and spiny deserts of Madagascar where over 80% of the flora is endemic.  
Many of us want to know more about the plants we see around us. Whether inspired by an appreciation of the aesthetic appeal of flowers, or a more focused desire to identify individual species, everyone with an interest in botany will derive pleasure from joining one of Naturetrek’s flower tours.
Why choose Naturetrek’s botanical holidays?

All our botanical holidays are led by expert botanist guides
All levels of interest and expertise are catered for, from hobby gardeners and complete beginners to keen botanists who wish to explore a new area with the help of a knowledgeable leader
We keep the overall focus on flora, though expert guidance is also given on other wildlife

What can I expect on a typical Naturetrek botanical holiday?

Travel with a group of like-minded people
Stay at a comfortable hotel or lodge, close to an area of outstanding botanical interest
Enjoy a series of leisurely day excursions with ample time to appreciate the local flora

In addition to our dedicated flower tours, we also offer holidays with a wider theme to encompass birds, butterflies and other aspects of natural history as well as the flora. Our spring tours to 'Crete' and ‘The Island of Cyprus’ are both timed to allow us to enjoy the botanical highlights as well as the spring bird migration, whilst ‘Croatia and Slovenia – Spring in Istria’ also allows time to enjoy a little of the local culture. ‘Romania – the Wildlife of Transylvania’ combines an appreciation of the flora of the Carpathian Mountains with birding, butterflying and a trip to look for Brown Bears from a purpose built hide, and our holidays in both the ‘French Pyrenees’ and the ‘Spanish Pyrenees’ combine birds, butterflies and botany throughout the week.  

Our specialist recommends...


"I'd recommend 'Wengen – Alpine Flowers of the Swiss Alps', 'Crete' and 'The French Pyrenees', which all offer some fascinating European botany, along with plenty of wider natural history and some stunning scenery. If you’re keen to travel a little further afield, I’d suggest joining us in South Africa for our 'Wild Flowers of the Cape & Namaqualand' tour” 

David Tattersfield - Tour Leader

All Botany Tours
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Short Break Wildlife Holidays
Among our programme is a significant range of short breaks, designed specially for those wishing to enjoy some of Europe’s top natural history highlights at the best time of year. All of these holidays have the bonus of being short-haul and supported by like-minded wildlife enthusiasts.
Naturetrek Short Break Wildlife Tours
Short breaks are becoming increasingly popular and in response to the high demand for this type of holiday we are continuing to increase our programme both within the UK and abroad. Most of our short breaks are within Europe, for convenience of travel.
For some of our mini-breaks there is an option to travel by plane or train, and we offer a choice of duration and type of break, from a weekend’s birdwatching in the Somerset Levels to a 6-day whale watching tour in the Azores.
A selection of our UK short breaks:

A winter bird watching break in Norfolk
An autumn holiday to enjoy the Red Deer rut in Ardnamurchan, Scotland
A wildlife weekend in the New Forest

A selection of our overseas short breaks:

In Spain we look for the world’s rarest cat, the Iberian Lynx
Wolves on the plains in rural northern Spain
An exploration of La Brenne’s exceptionally rich butterfly-life in northern France

 

 
Our specialist recommends...





"We offer two superb short breaks to the lovely island of Madeira in search of whales, dolphins and seabirds. It’s hard to beat our Just Brown Bears trip for families, while if you fancy something off the beaten track, try Estonia in Early Spring for some excellent spring birdwatching." 

Paul Stanbury - Operations Manager

All Short Break Tours
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            [description] => 
Flight-free Wildlife Holidays
At Naturetrek we make full use of the Eurostar rail service through the channel tunnel, and of the ferry routes between England’s south coast and France and Spain, to offer a range of ‘flightless’ wildlife holidays in Belgium, Holland, France and Spain. In addition, we also offer the widest selection of wildlife holidays within the UK, none of which require a flight to participate in. Therefore, if you prefer not to fly, for whatever reason, we have a range of varied and exciting wildlife holidays for you to choose from, and we are committed to regularly adding more.
It is also the case that many of our other holidays within Europe are also accessible by rail. Generally, where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we’d be pleased to offer advice to anybody who wishes to join any of our tours within Europe by a means other than flying!

Our specialist recommends...


"Our Picos & Plains tour offers an environmentally-friendly route down to Spain for some excellent birding and cetacean-watching. More broadly, we’re very keen for Naturetrek to offer the most dynamic, market-leading carbon-reduced holidays available, and we hope you enjoy browsing our list of no-flight wildlife holidays!” 

Kerrie Porteous - Operations Manager

All No Flight Tours
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Prefer to Travel in a Private Group?

For any interested natural history club or society, we can arrange for a private departure of this tour.

Enquire