Alpine Chough in grand alpine surroundings! Photographed on our June tour to the Swiss Alps Brian Small/Limosa

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1 Switzerland SWISS ALPS IN SUMMER Alpine Chough in grand alpine surroundings! Photographed on our June tour to the Swiss Alps Brian Small/Limosa 2018 Sunday 17th - Sunday 24th June (8 days) Single-centre tour with Brian Small Few countries in the world are as beautiful as Switzerland. Now in its 15th season, this immensely scenic summer tour to the glorious Valais region boasts everything from Bearded Vulture, Wallcreeper and Alpine Accentor through to a journey by Swiss mountain railway up to the Gornergrat glacier at 3000m - for lunch with the Alpine Choughs, Snowfinch and spectacular views to the Matterhorn! As well as great birding, many butterflies are seen on this remarkable tour in 2017, we saw an amazing 99 species! Summer 'birds & butterflies' tour to the beautiful Valais region of Switzerland Superb alpine birding amidst an idyllic chocolate-box landscape Specialities include Bearded Vulture, Nutcracker, Wallcreeper, Alpine Accentor, Snowfinch Up to 100 species of butterfly possible - from Peak White to Swiss Brassy Ringlet Travel by Swiss mountain railway up to 3000m - for spectacular views to the Matterhorn See the Gornerglescher - and share your picnic with Alpine Choughs and Alpine Marmots! Ride to the immense Grande Dixence dam by cable car, and stroll back down again Sublime alpine scenery and upland meadows ablaze with wildflowers Expertly led by Limosa guide Brian Small, making his twelfth visit to the region What's Included? Limosa Tour Leader Flights - London Heathrow to Geneva, nonstop with British Airways 7 nights at a quaint hotel in the picturesque Val d Hérens. All main meals included, with evening meals taken at local restaurants Swiss mountain railway journey to the Gornergrat glacier Cable car ride at Grande Dixence All local travel, excursions, entry fees, tour based tips and taxes LIMOSA HOLIDAYS, West End Farmhouse, Chapelfield, Stalham, Norfolk NR12 9EJ (UK) TEL: +44 (0) info@limosaholidays.co.uk WEB: limosaholidays.co.uk

2 Outline Itinerary Day 1: Fly London Heathrow-Geneva. Transfer east along the Rhône valley to the Val d Hérens. Night Evolène Days 2-7: We spend the week exploring the beautiful Swiss Alps for birds and butterflies, from the glorious Val d Herens itself, east to Zermatt and the Gornergrat glacier. Six further nights Evolène Day 8: We return to Geneva, fly London Tour Overview Switzerland is rightly famous for its stupendous upland scenery and crisp mountain air. The southern Valais region that borders with Italy is one of the most beautiful of all - and a prime location for alpine birding. Crested Tits and Western Bonelli's Warblers frequent the forests, boldly spotted Nutcrackers conceal themselves amongst the Arolla Pines and the trills of handsome red Common Redpolls rise above flower-filled alpine meadows. From Geneva, we follow the valley of the mighty Rhône eastwards to reach our base in the picturesque Val d Hérens, which is both a Parc Regional and a Biosphere Reserve. With no changes of hotel to worry about during our stay, we shall be free to devote ourselves to some of the most spectacular birding and landscapes in all Switzerland: from the glaciers at the head of the lovely Val d Hérens itself, east to the famous Gornergrat with its majestic views of the Matterhorn. In mid-late June, the weather in the Alps is typically warm with plenty of sunshine and our aim will certainly be to make the most of this! The woods and mountains around about our hotel are the perfect place to start. Red-backed Shrike, Fieldfare and Serin are to be found in the gardens and meadows around town, and Dippers bob beside the mountain streams as we listen for the buzzing chatter of both Black and Common Redstarts, which nest in the town. On one day, we will travel to Zermatt and take the mountain railway up to the Gornergrat. If visibility is good, we shall enjoy uninterrupted views across the glaciers towards the iconic chiselled peak of the Matterhorn - one of the most spectacular views in the world. Here, at an elevation of around 3000m, we ll watch for Snowfinch and Alpine Accentor, while playful Alpine Choughs may even feed from our hands! Should visibility on the high tops let us down, we will find birding along the floor of the Rhône Valley is equally rewarding. Bee-eaters now breed here and Black Kite, Honey Buzzard, Nightingale, Great Reed and Marsh Warbler plus Golden Oriole await our discovery here. We'll also pay a visit to the stupendous Grande Dixence dam - scene of that death-defying bungee jump in the James Bond movie GoldenEye. Travelling up via a short cable car ride, we plan to make our descent on foot (rather than elastic!) and can expect stupendous views plus chances of some great plants and birds along the way. Wallcreeper, Golden Eagle, Alpine Accentor, Ring Ouzel, and Water Pipits in pastel blue summer plumage are likely, while plants can include Snowdon Lily, a variety of primroses and a good chance of Edelweiss. Birdwatching in the Swiss Alps is full of surprises. On our June 2017 tour, Melodious Warblers and Blue Rock Thrushes sang in a disused quarry; we had superb views of a juvenile Bearded Vulture (Lammergeier) on the nest; soaring Golden Eagles were common; many Nutcrackers, best views ever of Citril Finch and a typically fabulous encounter with a Wallcreeper were all highlights. We ve even been lucky to find the shy Rock Partridge here once or twice in the past! The excitement of many butterflies on the wing - from Mazarine and Amanda s Blues, through Mountain Dappled White and Clouded Apollo to Niobe and Alpine Marsh Fritillaries - all add to the ingredients for a wonderful wildlife holiday. With relaxed, easy paced walks and plenty of invigorating Swiss mountain air, this tour offers an unbeatable introduction to alpine birds and butterflies. Limosa has been operating birdwatching tours to Switzerland since info@limosaholidays.co.uk

3 and this 2018 tour will be our 15th visit to the Swiss Alps in summer - a trip designed and led for us by Limosa principal guide Brian Small, making his 12th visit to the region. Daily Itinerary Day 1 TO GENEVA & THE VAL D HERENS Our birdwatching tour to Switzerland begins with a flight from London Heathrow to Geneva. We drive east along the Rhône valley to Sion, then swing south into the chocolate-box landscape of the glorious Val d Hérens. Along the way, we should see our first Black Kites beside the banks of Lake Geneva. A stop at a lake has produced Little Bittern and Squacco Heron in the past. In the late afternoon we arrive at our quaint hotel in the beautiful Val d Hérens, which will be our base throughout the holiday. Night Evolène Days 2-7 THE VAL D HERENS, RHONE VALLEY & GORNERGRAT GLACIER Waking to the crisp mountain air and gravelgargling song of Black Redstarts from the rooftops and Crested Tits in the hotel garden, our daily plans may depend a little on the weather - which, incidentally, is usually at its best in Switzerland in June. Much of our time will be spent exploring the woods and mountains of the Val d Hérens itself (which is both a Parc Regional and a Biosphere Reserve), with its heady mix of stunning scenery, alpine scents and sounds, and alluring montane birds. The very rare Bearded Vulture is once again to be looked for in the skies over this fabulous region - our last six groups have all been lucky! Serins gabble away like speeded-up Corn Buntings, and Dippers and Grey Wagtails haunt the river at Evolène. This lovely valley is also home to Crag Martin, fiery-tempered Firecrests and Fieldfares, Rock Bunting and Red-backed Shrikes hunting for bees. Golden Eagles sweep the skies and as we scan for them above the slopes, we ll watch for parties of Alpine Chamois with many young about in June. Taking a walk above the tree-line to the high alpine meadows and the Tsijiore Nouve glacier, Water Pipits and Alpine Willow Tits sing, and we may hear the creaking door call of perfectly-camouflaged Ptarmigan. The timid and rarely seen Rock Partridge also occurs; though we should indeed be very fortunate to find one, we live in hope and have been lucky to enjoy fantastic views on two or three previous tours... come to think of it, we're about overdue for another one now! Arolla is best known as a climbing centre. Quiet in early summer, for the visiting birdwatcher dappled Nutcrackers screech from the tops of pines that are the haunt of Western Bonelli s Warbler, Firecrest and Crested and Willow Tits. In June, we have occasionally found Griffon Vulture and Citril Finch here too, along with the superb Rock Thrush. The upper slopes are the haunt of Alpine Chamois and Alpine Ibex. And with a splendid array of alpine butterflies to look for - including such delights as Cranberry, Alpine, Mazarine and Amanda s Blues, both Alpine Heaths and Graylings, Alpoine Marsh and Shepherd s Fritillaries, Almond-eyed and Swiss Brassy Ringlets, Mountain Clouded Yellow and Alpine Grizzled Skipper - this is a place destined to linger long in the memory. On one of our days, after a circuitous drive east to Zermatt, we plan to take the mountain railway high up to the Gornergrat. Set at around 3000m, if visibility is good, stunning views across the glacier towards the Matterhorn will tempt our eyes away from the schools of playful Alpine Choughs, which jostle for visitors left-over food - and were close enough to stroke last time! Endearing Snowfinches sometimes breed in the observatory, but the less demonstrative Alpine Accentors are much more easily overlooked as they shuffle quietly about. Two special butterflies to watch out for at this altitude are the Peak White and Sooty Ringlet. Up a side valley from the Val d Hérens we will pay a visit to the immense Grande Dixence dam, taking the cable car up to the top and walking slowly back down. If the dam's vital statistics are impressive - 235m (935 feet) high and 200m (656 feet) wide at the base - so too is the birding! We often see Golden Eagles cruising info@limosaholidays.co.uk

4 above the slopes and this site offers the chance of Wallcreeper and Bearded Vulture, Alpine Accentor and singing Water Pipit. Switzerland's national flower, the Edelweiss, may be in bloom amongst many interesting plants on the slopes. We should encounter a few alpine Ring Ouzels too, here of the frosted central European race alpestris. Promising a whole new suite of birds, a visit to the floor of the Rhône Valley can be equally rewarding. There are Wallcreepers to look for at a special site and, remarkably, we might even find the Mediterranean Blue Rock Thrush and Melodious Warbler at some towering cliffs. At a small area of reed-fringed lakes, the songs of Nightingales, Blackcaps and Garden Warblers greet us, before we seek out Wryneck and listen for the tell-tale voices of other valley dwellers such as Quail, Whinchat and Golden Oriole. Marsh and Great Reed Warblers also nest here. Overhead we could see Peregrine or perhaps a dashing Hobby. Common and Honey Buzzards are quick to take advantage of thermals as the day begins to warm and small parties of 'sub-' Alpine Swifts cruise the valleysides. Best of all though is the colony of Bee-eaters that now nest in the bank in front of a hide! Six further nights Evolène Day 8 RETURN TO GENEVA, FLY LONDON Bidding a reluctant farewell to the Val d Hérens after breakfast this morning, we make our way back west along the Rhône valley. If travel time permits, we will make a short stop at Les Grangettes, where the river flows into the eastern end of Lake Geneva. Regular nowadays in summer, the Eider breeds only in Northern Europe and is a most surprising bird to find on the lake! An array of other wetland birds is possible, with Black-necked and Great Crested Grebes, Red-crested Pochard and Yellow-legged Gull among species we've seen here in the past. Our birding over, we continue on to Geneva and board our afternoon flight to London Heathrow, where our summer 'birds and butterflies' tour to the Swiss Alps concludes. Trip Information Group Size Max of 12 participants & 2 leaders; or 7 particpants & 1 leader Birds species Butterflies Over 70 species possible, depending upon the weather. Every year is different it seems, but we ve now recorded the incredible total of more than 120 different species on this remarkable tour - including an astonishing 99 species on our June 2017 visit alone! Accommodation 7 nights accommodation in the Swiss Alps, where our hotel for the past dozen years on this tour has been a small, quaint and very friendly family-run establishment in the quiet rural town of Evolène right at the heart of the picturesque Val d Hérens. Hotels are few and far between in this gorgeous spot and while rooms at our charming little 2-star hotel are quite modest, all have en suite facilities. Meals All main meals are included in the tour price, commencing with dinner on arrival at Evolene on Day 1 and concluding with lunch on Day 8. Breakfasts are Continental-style and served at the hotel. Our dinners will be taken at a variety of local restaurants, all within a short stroll of our hotel in Evolène. Lunches are a popular mix of picnics and sit-down meals at a local Gasthof. Walking The floor of the Rhône valley is relatively flat and the going is easy. Elsewhere, our walks are not strenuous but this is the Alps of course, so expect some uphill stretches - all taken at a gentle pace, with our itinerary being carefully planned to avoid arduous hikes. Swiss alpine trails are well marked and generally in good condition. For our visit to Grande Dixence, we make the short ascent by cable car and walk back down. Stout walking shoes or lightweight boots with sturdy corrugated soles for grip recommended for this tour. Maximum elevation on this tour: ca. 3100m (10,000 feet) for a few hours on our visit to the Gornergrat info@limosaholidays.co.uk

5 Weather The weather in the Swiss Alps is typically at its best in early summer (June), usually warm with plenty of sunshine. In the mountains of course, cloudy conditions with some rainfall are always possible - but we have found it s often possible to dodge poor weather locally by moving higher up or lower down the valleys. Temperature also varies according to altitude. In the Rhone Valley in June, it can reach 32C (90F), but up at Evolene is typically a much cooler and fresher 16-20C (61-68F); even higher at Arolla it is often 8-16C (46-61F). Flights We fly London Heathrow-Geneva- London Heathrow with British Airways. Ground Transport By minibus. Photos Good-excellent incidental photographic opportunities, including birds, butterflies, alpine flowers and glorious mountain scenery. Tour Cost * (8 days): 1895 (inc flights from London) Land only cost: 1725 Deposit: 300 Single Supp: 195 Cost includes Services of our expert guide/s Return flights London Heathrow-Geneva 7 nights hotel accommodation in Switzerland All main meals (with drinking water provided) Minibus transport Mountain railway excursion to the Gornergrat Cable car ride up to Grande Dixence All local travel, excursions, entry fees, tour based tips and taxes Map and Limosa checklist of birds & butterflies for the tour Cost excludes Insurance, drinks, airport meals/snacks & other items of a personal nature. * prices provisional, TBC summer 2017 About Your Guides Brian Small Brian lives in Suffolk with his wife and their teenage son. A teacher for 11 years, since 2013 he has worked full time for Limosa, guiding tours and as Operations and Media Manager in the Limosa office. Brian has travelled around the globe and is the inspiration behind a growing number of Limosa tours, including Switzerland, Portugal and Madeira, Georgia, Argentina and Brazil. He regularly leads our guided BirdWalks in Norfolk and Suffolk, too. As a bird artist his current projects include work on a major new guide to birds in southern Brazil. At home he concentrates on working his local patch on the Suffolk coast, searching especially for migrants and gulls. Brimming with infectious enthusiasm, Brian has been guiding tours for Limosa since 2002 and Switzerland has been a favourite destination since childhood. Indeed, Brian not only designed but has also led 11 of our previous 'Swiss Alps in Summer' tours, now in its 15th season. A second Limosa guide (tba) will be added as group size warrants. What You Say: It was wonderful to be in the Swiss Alps. The scenery was magnificent and the birds, flowers and butterflies an interesting mixture. It was a great trip. The food at the hotel and restaurants was excellent too. MC, Switzerland tour Brian and Robin worked extremely hard, not only in making sure everybody saw as many of the birds, plants, butterflies and mammals as possible, but also that everyone was safe, comfortable and extremely well fed. The picnic lunches were marvellous. AM, Switzerland tour info@limosaholidays.co.uk

6 Financial Security Limosa Holidays is a fully bonded Tour Operator and a member of the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO). We hold an ATOL (Air Tour Operators Licence) granted by the CAA, providing for your protection in the event of Limosa Holidays' insolvency. Our licence number is ATOL For tours not including the cost of a flight from the UK or for holidays booked by you as Land Only, all payments made to us are fully bonded through the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT). Our ABTOT membership number is For details please see our brochure or website: Limosa Loyalty Discount We are proud of the number of loyal customers who travel regularly with us. As our way of saying thank you, we offer a Frequent Travel Discount. Under the scheme, everyone who takes four trips with us is entitled to claim a 5% discount on their 5th trip *1. Remember to request your discount at time of booking! *1 Please note: This offer applies to the basic tour cost only and excludes certain commissionbased trips, extras such as additional flights, private extensions and cancellations. Discounts cannot be given in lieu of tour deposits or off the cost of single room supplements. How To Book Check availability on our website or with our office. We are happy to hold Provisional Reservations for up to 7 days. After this, we do require a Booking Form and deposit to confirm your place on tour. Any unconfirmed space will be released. Book Online, by Phone or by Post You can book and pay the deposit simply and securely Online via our website, using the Book This Tour button on the relevant tour page or the Booking tab at the top of the page. Telephone bookings must be confirmed in writing by completion of a Booking Form (there's one tucked inside every brochure or as a PDF download from our website), which can be mailed to us in the time honoured way. Be sure to read our Booking Conditions and General Information (found at the back of our brochure, on our website or available from our office on request) prior to booking. When to Book Early booking is advised since flights and accommodation are much more easily secured well in advance. To encourage early booking, we are pleased to offer an Early Bird Discount - see our current brochure or website for details. Our tours are limited to small group sizes. So they can fill up quickly - sometimes even before our new brochure comes out! Single rooms in particular can often be in short supply and among the first to go, so do try to plan well ahead if you definitely require one of these. Last-minute Bookings: We inevitably receive a few unexpected cancellations over the course of a season so it is always worth enquiring about vacancies on any tour - even for those departing in just a few weeks! Payments The amount of booking deposit per person is shown alongside every tour. We accept deposit payments by debit card, cheque (payable to Limosa Holidays and drawn on a UK bank in GB Pounds Sterling) and BACS (please ask for our bank details). We also accept Visa and MasterCard credit cards, with no transaction charge on payment of tour deposits. Full payment of the balance is due not later than 12 weeks prior to departure (20 weeks in the case of certain tours such as cruises or those involving rail travel). We will send you an invoice before the balance is due. We accept payment for balances (and interim payments) by cheque, BACS or UK debit card info@limosaholidays.co.uk

7 We also accept balances (and interim payments) by credit card or overseas debit card but with a charge of 2.5% of the transaction amount to help offset card company charges. [Note we do not retain your card details, which are destroyed once used. This means we may need to phone you again for details for subsequent payments.] Payment by overseas customers must be in GB Pounds Sterling and may be made by transfer to our bank (please ask for our bank details), or by overseas debit or credit card with a 2.5% transaction charge. Please note we do not accept cheques on US Banks in US Dollars, or cheques in Euros or Eurocheques. Late Booking Payments: In order for us to guarantee your airline seats, hotels etc., full payment is required at time of booking for all late bookings (i.e. bookings made within 12 weeks of departure). Other Things You Need To Know Passports & Visas All participants must be in possession of a valid passport. For UK passport holders, your passport should be valid for the proposed duration of your stay. Nno additional period of validity beyond this is required, but when travelling anywhere overseas we always recommend your passport has a minimum of 6 months left to run after your intended date of return home, in case of unforeseen delay. VISA NOT REQUIRED by UK passport holders to enter Switzerland. All other nationalities should contact the nearest Swiss embassy or consulate to check whether or not they require a visa. If a visa is required, you will need to apply locally. If the embassy or consulate requires you to provide a letter confirming that you are booked on an allinclusive tour, please contact our office and we will be happy to provide one. Health & Vaccinations Compulsory vaccinations: None. Recommended vaccinations: For travel everywhere (even within the UK) we recommend you check you are up-to-date with protection against tetanus, polio and hepatitis A. Ticks occur in grassy, forested and wetland areas below 1400m during the summer months across most of the UK and continental Europe, including Switzerland. If you are at all concerned by this, you may wish to seek advice about inoculations and other measures to prevent tick-related problems (such as tick-borne encephalitis) prior to travel. The above information, together with that contained within our Travel Information sheets (sent to everyone who books), outlines health requirements for this tour. Please note that these details are given for guidance only - and are only for certain diseases - and you must consult your doctor in good time prior to travel as to what immunisations (if any) are needed for your chosen holiday. For full and up-to-date health information we urge everyone to consult The National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) website prior to booking any overseas holiday. NaTHNaC is funded by the UK Government s Health Protection Agency and provides health information for both health professionals and travellers, with information compiled by its own clinical and scientific team. You can search for individual country requirements, which are updated regularly. Your Safety & Travel Advice An unavoidable aspect of travelling abroad nowadays is the risk it may pose to your safety and security. The best advice on current risks is provided by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). In order to assess and protect against any risks in your chosen destination we strongly recommended that you refer to the relevant FCO Travel Advice - both prior to booking and regularly before you travel. See info@limosaholidays.co.uk

8 It is standard Limosa policy for our office to send a copy of the relevant FCO Travel Advice about the tour to all participants along with their Final Letter (ca. 2-3 weeks prior to the trip). Travel Aware - staying safe and healthy abroad - is a travel safety campaign run by the FCO, and another useful resource. Go to: Travel Insurance Good travel insurance is essential before setting off on any overseas trip. In common with all responsible tour operators, it is a condition of booking that all clients are fully and adequately insured before travelling overseas with us. Your travel insurance should cover against cancellation, curtailment, missed departure, delay, personal accident, death, loss of baggage and valuables (see note below), personal liability and legal expenses. Most importantly, your insurance must cover you fully in respect of medical care and repatriation should you become too ill to continue with the tour, including the cost of emergency evacuation by helicopter or air ambulance should this be necessary. Note that passenger liability insurance covering the transportation that we hire may be inadequate; it is therefore important that your insurance cover includes sufficient provision for your dependents in the event of an accident. We recommend that you obtain travel insurance as soon as possible after booking your holiday to ensure you are protected right from the word go in the event of unexpected cancellation prior to departure due to accident or illness. You must inform your insurers of any pre-existing medical conditions (including those of persons not necessarily travelling but upon whom your holiday may depend) that may require treatment during a period of overseas travel or might cause you to cancel the trip. Once you have arranged your insurance, please be sure to send us the following essential details: name and contact details of your insurance provider, your policy number, expiry date and your insurers 24hr Emergency Assistance number. Important Things to Note about Insurance Travel Insurance does not normally provide sufficient cover for valuable optical equipment, which is often best protected under your own household insurance policy. If in doubt ask your insurers for advice prior to travel. Most travel insurance policies limit the amount of cover, typically up to a maximum tour cost of 5000 per person. If the tour you are booking exceeds this amount, additional cover can usually be provided upon payment of additional premium. We recommend all travellers check their individual policy limit to ensure the full cost of their holiday is covered. Arranging Your Insurance: due to UK Government legislation, under Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulations, we are not allowed to offer or recommend travel related insurance to customers. Premiums can vary widely according to your age, needs, health, choice of destination and other factors, while many people nowadays have Annual Travel Insurance cover. For these reasons, we leave you free to shop around and pick your own policy, one best suited to your own individual needs. General Information Our website gives easy access to detailed tour itineraries (Tour Info Packs), trip reports, trip photos and the latest Limosa News. Special Diets & Other Requests We pass on all such requests to the airlines, hotels and other suppliers, and do our best to ensure (but of course cannot guarantee) that your needs will be met. Please be sure to tell us about these (in as much detail as possible) at the time of booking, to allow good time to make the necessary arrangements info@limosaholidays.co.uk

9 Smoking Almost all of our clients prefer a smoke-free environment. For the enjoyment and comfort of all, we ask that smokers refrain from smoking in proximity to the group and respect our NO SMOKING policy in the vehicle, at meal times and when watching wildlife. Any Questions? If you have any questions at any time, you ll find our office staff friendly, efficient, approachable - and just a phone call away, eager to assist you in every way. Our office is open hrs Mon-Fri, and can also be reached by fax and . In the event we are unable to take your call, please leave a message on our answerphone (24 hrs) and our office will contact you as soon as we can. Thank you for your interest in our tours. We do hope that you will be able to join us - and we look forward to hearing from you again! revbsck info@limosaholidays.co.uk