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Anna Ivaschenko is Kazakhstan’s foremost botanist,
and is the authority on the fabulous flowers of the Tien Shan
and Altai Mountains. Anna spent 22 years working in the Aksu-Dzhabagly
Nature Reserve and for the past 15 years she has been based
in Almaty at the Institute of Botany. Her knowledge is truly
encyclopaedic - she knows all the birds and mammals too - and
her husband is one of the country’s top entomologists!
Anna’s enthusiasm for plants is infectious and there’s
nothing she enjoys more than showing others ‘her flowers’!
Everyone who has been on her tours will remember her amazing
ability to shower them with new finds on every day of each tour. |
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| Kate
Clow has lived in Antalya in Turkey for many years
and her work has featured in several guidebooks to Turkey. Most
recently she has written guidebooks to Turkey’s first
long distance footpaths, the Lycian Way and the St Paul Trail,
both of which she has helped to design and waymark. Kate is
of course fluent in Turkish and offers a wide-ranging historical
and cultural knowledge to complement the main fauna and flora
component. |
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Tony
Beck resides in Ottawa, Canada. His work as a professional
photographer and tour leader has taken him all over North
America and the Neotropics. Tony’s photos regularly
appear in books and journals throughout the continent and
his birdwatching and nature photography courses are always
very popular. Tony’s relaxed approach and flexible style
is sure to be appreciated by those joining him on this year’s
holidays. |
| Basak
Güner is
currently studying for an MA in botanical systematics
under Professor Tuna Ekim in Istanbul though it is surely
her botanist father Adil Güner who has cultivated
her love of Turkey’s wild places. Bas¸ak is
a lively and instinctive tour leader whose enthusiasm
for flowers and birds soon becomes obvious to all. Basak’s
knowledge of Turkey’s flora is wide-ranging, and
her engaging style coupled with superb organisational
ability and near perfect English, have resulted in her
rapidly becoming one of Greentours more experienced leaders,
taking only four years to rack up almost thirty tours.
She is now busy expanding her repertoire from her native
Turkey to all corners of the Globe, as well as spending
just a little time on her watercolours, for Basak is also
a talented botanical artist! |
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Adrian
Binns grew up in Morocco and was educated in England,
the cultural differences and the birds of the Western Palearctic
formed the backbone of his formative years. Along with his wife
and two sons, he has resided in Southeastern Pennsylvania since
1977. Adrian has led trips for a variety of organisations and
tour companies, in the United States, and elsewhere - Mexico,
England and Morocco. He is also an accomplished avian illustrator
and photographer. |
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Martin
Catt has over 30 years experience of leading successful
wildlife holidays and courses both in UK and abroad, as well
as conducting many illustrated talks and guided walks covering
numerous wildlife subjects. His varied knowledge and experience
includes all major groups of flora and fauna, and also geology
and archaeology, with particular interests in butterfly ecology
and behaviour, terrestrial orchids, reptiles and amphibians,
fungi, and prehistoric archaeology. A former rocket scientist,
over the last
twenty years Martin has successfully turned his interest in
natural history into a full-time profession. |
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Seven years ago
Ian Bennallick was on our Crete tour as a customer
and during it he impressed us so much with his enthusiasm and
knowledge that it wasn’t long before we asked him to lead
a tour for us. He grew up on a farm in deepest wettest Cornwall
where an early interest in wildflowers and ferns has blossomed
(!) into a wide-ranging enthusiasm for the natural world. Ian
is the BSBI joint recorder for Cornwall and co-ordinator for
the Botanical Cornwall Group, whom he leads walks for, encouraging
people to learn more about Cornwall’s fine flora. Ian’s
repertoire for Greentours has expanded rapidly over the years,
and he now leads around ten trips a year for us, to all parts
of Europe
and the Middle-East. |
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A well-travelled teacher who recently
graduated with a degree in Wildlife Biology and Animal Behaviour,
Gabriele Corti
has spent
plenty of time in the UK as well as in his native Italy. Gabriele
has a great enthusiasm for wildlife and is a very able communicator,
confident in both his teaching abilities and in fluent English,
Italian and Spanish.. |
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Another
Green. Though he has a twin brother Ian, Paul
isn’t related to the Ian Green who founded Greentours.
Paul co-wrote the recent Flora of Somerset with his twin brother
(the other Ian Green!) and is currently working on the Flora
of County Wexford, where he now lives. This should be published
in 2007 and will, we hope, encourage us to get Paul to guide
a tour to that lovely part of the world. Prior to his move across
the Irish Sea Paul was a long-time resident of Somerset and
of Cornwall and has done much recording work in both areas for
the Botanical Society of the British Isles. Paul is rapidly
expanding his tour repertoire with Greentours, a consequence
of his fine botanical knowledge and his pleasantly relaxed style
with our groups.
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| Happily Ian Loe
has managed to combine two of his greatest pleasures in life
in a way that few of us can ever hope to. A wonderfully talented
artist his output for almost fifty years has been phenomenal.
He still paints for six hours a day! A dedicated field naturalist
he has worked in many parts of the Globe. His entomological
work in Congolese border regions saw him elected a Fellow of
the Royal Entomological Society, and he has illustrated and
helped to produce several books on the region including ‘Butterflies
of Central and Southern Africa’. His depictions of fauna
and flora are featured on stamps from a tremendous number of
countries, and it is safe to say that if you see a butterfly,
insect, or flower on a stamp, there’s a good chance it
will have been Ian’s work. Ian’s lively style and
tremendous depth of knowledge will be a boon to many of our
tropical tours and we are particularly looking forward to Ian’s
‘Art in the Field’ trip in Switzerland this coming
July. |
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John Riddell’s
Riddell’s parents farmed the flower and bird-rich prairie
of southern Alberta so an interest in the natural world started
early. After training as a wildlife biologist he worked for
The Inglewood Bird Sanctuary before going freelance. John’s
knowledge of Western America’s birdlife is first class
and he has been on the Alberta Bird Record Committee for the
past five years. A tremendous all-round naturalist, John knows
the Alberta flora well, and of course he knows the likeliest
spots for encountering those large mammals. An accommodating
and friendly character, John is ideal tour leader material,
and he will be a tremendous asset to our Canadian and Western
US tours in 2007. |
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An engineer
by profession, Neil Thompson
has had a life-long interest in the natural world. He
has travelled to many parts of the world, visiting cultural
as well as natural attractions. He is a keen photographer,
specialising in landscapes and macro photography of butterflies.
In the last ten years he has been an active member of
Butterfly Conservation doing committee, conservation management
and recording work. He has visited many European butterfly
hotspots, but can still be amazed at the beauty, colour
or form of even the commonest species, or at the magnificent
countryside in which they’re found.
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| One of the original founders
of Plantlife, Andy Byfield is currently their
Landscape Conservation Manager. He has recently returned to
the UK after a ten year spell in Turkey where he has worked
with mountain villagers to promote the sustainable production
of bulbs, notably Snowdrops, and directed the landmark Important
Plant Areas project, identifying Turkey’s botanical havens.
Many new plants have found their way on to the Turkish list
during Andy’s explorations, including the newly described
Fritillaria byfieldii! Andy also contributed greatly to Volume
eleven of the Turkish Flora. A recent convert to tour leading,
though his many botanical friends will tell you he has been
doing much the same for them during his residence in Turkey! |
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| Anders Magnusson
has quite possibly the sharpest pair of eyes we’ve
ever encountered. He was first to spot all eleven Polar Bears
on our trip to Spitsbergen with him, and during his leading
of that tour in 2007 he spotted six Polar Bears to the ship’s
guides one, but he beat them to all seven Narwhals! Not surprisingly
we’ve invited him back for that tour! Though Swedish,
Anders now lives in Copenhagen, and is well-traveled both in
Scandinavia, where he knows the flora very well, and throughout
the world on many birdwatching trips. |
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Other
Leaders
There are a number of tour leaders you’ll find in the following
pages that are not mentioned above, space precludes more than a brief
summary for some! Eric Miranda is joining Ian to
co-lead the Monarch Butterflies of Mexico tour in February. A resident
of Morelia, Eric will be able to provide insights into the cultural
sites and life of the region and is a first rate gastronome so expect
to eat well on this tour! Patrice Christy co-leads
the Gabon tour and is widely regarded as the most knowledgeable naturalist
in the country. Mike Taylor resides on the Greek
Island of Chios where his knowledge of the many local orchids has
resulted in a book on the subject! Glenn Crawford,
a resident of Crooked Tree, Belize, and one of Central America’s
most accomplished tour leaders. |
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