John McLoughlin

John (widely known as ‘Johnny Mac’) lives in Yorkshire, England, his home county where he has been birding since boyhood.

As a youngster, John was very active on the UK birding scene making extended visits to the Isles of Scilly as well as a regular on the Yorkshire and Norfolk coasts. He became the voice of Birdline North East broadcasting news of the latest rarities and scarce migrants to the region. During 1996-2006 he served as one of the youngest members of the British Birds Rarities Committee.

After gaining a degree in Ecology at Leeds University he caught the travel bug which led to many overseas ventures across Europe and to Turkey and then far across Asia as far as India, Thailand, Mongolia and China, as well as to Namibia in Southern Africa.

Since the 1990s he has made numerous visits to the Neotropics and led many tours to Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands for the former Bird Holidays Worldwide based in Leeds, as well as many tours in Asia and other areas.

Madagascar, the Caucasus region of Georgia and neighbouring Armenia are among his favourite destinations. In Oman, he discovered a new breeding location for Omani Owl and assisted in making the Birdquest pioneering tour to find this little-known species a success. John also has a strong interest in Central Asia and Mongolia and feels much at home there. On a memorable first visit to Mongolia in 2008, his group came across an extraordinary concentration of around 25,000 Pallas’s Sandgrouse in the Gobi Desert!

John’s other links to the world of birdwatching include a long stint with In Focus, the birding optics specialists, as well as many short-term conservation research contracts with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). An expedition with Birdlife saw him seeking out Gurneys Pitta and other lowland rainforest specialists in peninsular Thailand. He likes to combine his birding with making an impact on local conservation work. Connections with the people on the ground, the bird and wildlife guides and their communities are important to him.

John has three sons, Sean is currently driving steam trains, Jack has just started out on a career with an environmental consultancy whilst Alfie is enjoying life as a student at Manchester University.