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Mike Lockwood - Birds, butterflies and dragonflies in the Spanish Pyrenees and Catalonia, Spain
Mike is a seasoned naturalist currently working in Catalonia on bird, butterfly and dragonfly studies.
He lives in Catalonia and leads wildlife and walking tours for various
companies and private groups.
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Cala Tavallera, Catalonia
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Mike Lockwood
I have been living in Catalonia - or Catalunya - in northeast Spain for more years than I care to remember.
Arriving in small-town Catalonia in
January 1984 was a real eye-opener: however, after the initial shock of the cold, I quickly realised
that the wildlife here was bigger, more abundant and more colourful than at home in Britain! Since
then I've thrown myself fully into leading wildlife trips, writing walking and wildlife guides and
helping to promote butterfly and dragonfly studies in Catalonia.
La Moixina, Catalonia
I lead mainly for The Travelling Naturalist and the
Field Studies Council Overseas,
and try and concentrate my work around home in the region of La Garrotxa, in northeastern
Catalonia, and in the Eastern Pyrenees in general.
Over the years I've also guided in Portugal, Tenerife, Andalucia, Extremadura,
Los Picos de Europa in northern Spain and the Ebro Valley.
Martagon lily
Lilium martagon
One of the advantages of living in La Garrotxa is that I'm just 40 minutes away from the
wildest part of the Costa Brava and only an hour or so away from the high peaks of the eastern
Pyrenees above Setcases. I'm lucky enough therefore to be able choose as a destination when I
go out either the high Pyrenees, with its lammergeiers, saxifrages and alpine butterflies, or
the bleak scrubby headland of Cap de Creus and the neighbouring low-lying coastal marshes of
Els Aiguamolls de l'Empordà with their Bonelli's eagles, purple gallinules and rollers.
As an author, I have co-written with Teresa Farino a walking guide Costa Brava and Barcelona
for Sunflower books and Traveller's Nature Guide: Spain,
a complete site guide to the flora and fauna of Spain, for Oxford University Press.
At the moment I'm working on a book of wildlife excursions in Girona province (in Catalan) for Edicions Lynx:
some of my writings can be found at the Wild-Spain website. Other projects on
my plate currently include a Butterfly Monitoring Scheme transect,
atlas and survey work with Oxygastra (our local dragonfly group), work on raptor protection for a local
Spanish Festoon Zerynthia rumina
biodiversity protection group and the ongoing Catalan common bird survey.
An important part of my work over the next couple of years will be the creation of a network of
historic pathways in the regions of La Garrotxa and L'Alt Empordà for the local tourist board. This
Night Heron
Nycticorax nycticorax project, which involves the computerised mapping of natural, geological and other 'tourist' resources,
involves walking and classifying over 1000km of path and has been designed by myself and my local
environmental education association Verd Volcànic as a way of attracting sustainable tourism to the
rural areas of this part of Catalonia. I've also designed a walking circuit of La Garrotxa for
Andante On Foot and regularly guide visitors in the
Natural Park of the Volcanic Region of La Garrotxa,
where I am an accredited wildlife and cultural guide.
In 2005 I will be leading and organising the following trips, for which places are still available
unless stated. Click on the link to the company in question for practical details and bookings; e-mail
me if you have any queries regarding itineraries and species.
Non-Iberian Trips for 2010
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E-mail:
Office: (+34) 972 590327
Mobile: (+34) 661 956939
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Santa Magdalena, Catalonia |
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