SPEYSIDE Wildlife, based near Aviemore, runs bird, whale and mammal watching holidays in Scotland and other parts of the world, as well as mammal watching hides in the Cairngorms National Park.

Sally Dowden, who runs the firm, said: "The season has been good. At the hide we saw an increase of about 20 per cent in visitor numbers during April, May and June.

 

"On the holiday side we have definitely seen guests come to Scotland rather than going overseas this year. But the big growth area this year has been due to the drop in the exchange rate between the pound and euro which has encouraged incoming tour operators wanting to use our tours for their clients, mainly in Holland Germany."

 

She said as well as deer, osprey, capercaillie and the golden eagle, visitors are keen to see red grouse, Scottish crossbill and seabird colonies, as well as pine marten and badgers.

 

"The plus for Scotland is that we have seabird colonies that are second to none. If you are in Holland, for example, there are no cliffs so no seabird colonies. The potential to see whales and dolphins here is also far greater than in mainland Europe.

 

"The scenery that goes with it also helps, people who come here think Scotland is fantastic. So there is a general movement with things feeding off each other."

 

On the downside, 20 businesses which took part in the survey raised concerns with two seeing visitor spending drop and two suffering job losses.