About

Shetland Nature offers a range of unique, quality and affordable wildlife-watching holidays, which take eco-tourism in the isles to a new level.

Established in 2006 by native Shetlander Brydon Thomason, Shetland Nature has built a reputation for providing an exceptional visitor experience. Our team of guides has been carefully selected for their expert knowledge and understanding of Shetland’s natural heritage and represents the most experienced and respected team of resident naturalists actively working together in the Isles.

This, combined with our attention to detail, ensures that our wildlife holidays offer quality and value that simply cannot be equalled.

Why Shetland Nature?

Shetland Nature is unique in being the only wildlife holiday provider in the islands to be established and run by a native Shetlander. When establishing the company Brydon fulfilled his ambition to share and communicate his life’s passion for the islands, their cultural heritage and most of all their wildlife. This heady blend of pride and passion is crystallised in the design and concept of our trips and is instilled in all our guides to ensure each trip is created with sensitivity in mind, whilst providing a truly authentic Shetland experience.

To uphold Shetland Nature’s ethos on sensitivity to wildlife, our holidays are designed with small groups in mind. We keep our group sizes to a maximum of six clients to one guide, which is our tried and tested ratio. Therefore our clients experience and enjoy first-hand all the advantages of a small group, unlike a ‘coach tour style’ holiday with up to 12 or more clients.

Our policy on group size also enables us to build up a rapport with our clients, so that both guide and visitor can enjoy a balanced social dynamic throughout our holidays. This is more valuable to us than profit margins, allowing us to proudly share and celebrate our passion for Shetland’s unique natural heritage with you. There can simply be no benefit in running larger tours other than to maximise profits – we keep our group sizes down and our standards high. This doesn’t come at a premium rate either; you have eight full days in the field and sample the best of Shetland’s accommodation, cuisine and hospitality.

With this design in mind, many of our holidays are available for even smaller groups and can be booked on a tailor-made basis, ideal for small groups or families travelling together.

Read what past clients have to say about our holidays.

Accommodation

We make sure that our accommodation and cuisine matches the quality and high standard of our visitor experience, by using the finest available. We believe that creature comforts are as much a part of your experience as our outdoor activities.

On Unst the accommodation we use is modern, spacious and comfortable three-bedroomed houses at the Saxa Vord resort; here we have an exclusive booking during our holiday season and have our own three houses just for our clients. On mainland Shetland we enjoy the delights of the Spiggie Hotel and its enviable aspect; a traditional Victorian retreat brought up to modern standards and offering probably the cosiest lounge bar in Shetland.

Booking and Travel

Choosing a Shetland Nature trip ensures that your visit to Shetland will be hassle-free. We remove all complications by packaging your holiday through locally-based and fully-bonded travel agents John Leask & Son. John Leask & Son have been trading for over ninety years and are a member of the Association of British Travel Agents – your money is fully protected by their guarantee bonding system.

In addition, Leask P R & Leask A J N t/a John Leask & Son is bonded through CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) by means of an ATOL licence (Air Travel Organisers Licensing No.3309) read more at www.leaskstravel.co.uk.

We use a standard £100 per person non-refundable deposit payment, with the balance being due 8 weeks before arrival, see our terms and conditions.

More about us and our holidays and tours

Shetland Nature is essentially a family-run company (meet Brydon and Family) and we pride ourselves on maintaining this spirit in all aspects of the business. For us, our major motivation is providing our guests with an experience that will linger long in the memory; we want you to leave Shetland in the knowledge that you have been looked after in true Shetland style, and indeed become part of the lifestyle we are so lucky to enjoy.

Our carefully selected guides are specialists in many fields, and are keen to bring their own unique personalities to the fore. Not only would we hope to enjoy many fantastic encounters with Shetland’s outstanding wildlife, our guides also endeavour to provide that little bit extra; putting a sighting into context with background information and a look at the bigger picture can be the difference that makes your wildlife encounter truly memorable. Not for us merely a brief look and on to the next site; our style is to ensure quality and education go hand in hand.

Our guides want to ensure you gain that little bit extra from your visit to Shetland; if you wish to spend the evening searching for Otters during the wonderfully long twilight hours, discussing tricky in-depth identifications of rare migrant birds or just relaxing over a drink and having a bit of fun, our personable and highly adaptable guides will be there for you.

Our tours and holidays are designed and led in such a way that they offer something for everyone and are tailored to suit all levels of interest.

Holidays

Perhaps you want an exclusive one-to-one with a renowned Otter expert for dedicated Otter photography, to indulge yourself in an all-inclusive wildlife watching adventure or experience the magic of autumn migration. View our Holidays.

Day trips

We offer a wide range of day tours throughout the year, which are designed for clients planning their own holiday to the isles, but perhaps want to take a day out with experienced local naturalists so as to maximise their time in the field. View our Day Tours.