Mike Watson

Mike Watson lives with his partner Évi and their son Alexander in Lancashire, England. As well as being a regular Birdquest leader, Mike is the senior client manager for the Birdquest office, where he has also built up an enviable set of skills in airline reservations and ticketing.

Mike started birding at an early age in northeast England and is still a keen ‘local patch’ man, although now that patch has become East Lancashire. Mike’s first career was with NatWest bank, where he eventually became a branch manager in Hertfordshire and later Norfolk, but he wisely decided on a complete change of career and joined Birdquest in 2005, rapidly becoming a key member of the team.

Mike has travelled very widely in search of birds, visiting every continent. He has spent very long periods in the field with János Oláh in Hungary, where he met Évi, and in Romania.

Areas, where Mike has particular expertise include Israel, Oman, Bahrain, Spitsbergen (Svalbard), Iceland, much of continental Europe, India (including Ladakh), Japan, South Africa, Madagascar, Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, Colorado, Texas, Alaska, Hawaii and Brazil’s Pantanal.