Birding Extremadura is a family run specialist birdwatching tour operator who focuses on private and exclusive tours to one of Europe’s top birding and nature-watching destinations. We have also partnered with acclaimed broadcasters and writers, Mark Cocker and David Lindo, offering group holidays with a difference.

Martin and Claudia Kelsey also offer guest house accommodation and have been based in the heart of this region since 2005, catering for birders and other naturalists, especially those travelling independently.  We are passionate about Extremadura and love to share that passion with other wildlife enthusiasts. We work closely with local government and non-government organisations to support our activities on birds, conservation and wildlife tourism.

Birding Extremadura offers small group customised private birding ecotours throughout Extremadura, these birding Extremadura holidays are exclusive to you so that you will receive dedicated guiding support from Martin, with the holiday set at your pace to meet your specific needs and expectations.

Our private Extremadura birding ecotours are normally seven or eight days with a choice of set departure dates and alternative dates to suit you available throughout the year, shorter or longer holidays are also available on request. Since these birdwatching Extremadura holidays are personally customised, we can include visits to historic towns, and aspects of other nature interests such as botany, butterflies or dragonflies.

Martin and Claudia also organise special activities, run by invited and widely-acclaimed tutors, broadcasters and writers, covering themes like nature-writing and landscape painting. Keen photographers can also be linked-up with local business offering hides for birds of prey and passerines.

Casa Rural El Recuerdo

Birding Extremadura and its guesthouse, Casa Rural El Recuerdo, offer a full range of options for guests, from Bed & Breakfast to Full Board, with expert local advice to help guests explore the area for themselves as well as guided daytrips and fully inclusive private tours if requested. Martin and Claudia’s experience and knowledge mean that the wishes and requirements of each guest can be individually met. Our private tours are customised to your interests and your pace.

Why Extremadura?

Extremadura lies in the south-west of the Iberian Peninsula and boasts an amazing diversity of vast landscapes with mainly traditional farming. This combination makes it a unique corner of western Europe, sustaining wildlife populations that have become just distant memories elsewhere.

Extremadura is a year-round destination, but with distinct seasonal differences. Spring (from March to May) offers a luxuriant diversity of wildlife, but winter visits are extremely popular because of the sheer abundance of birds and superb conditions for photography. Autumn rains bless Extremadura with a second spring, with a resurgence of growth and delightful autumn flowers. The hot dry summer has a charm of its own, combined with a slower pace and the richness of wildlife like dragonflies now at a peak.

Extremadura has so much to offer in terms of wildlife (birds – including 23 breeding species of raptor, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers) as well as for those with a love of landscape, authenticity, gastronomy, culture and history (there are three World Heritage Sites as well as a Geological Park within an hour from Martin and Claudia’s house).