Doņana Bird Tours Update
Tragically John Butler, founder of Doņana Bird Tours, died on 15th September 2007. His untimely death deprived the world of a man with an encyclopaedic knowledge of birds who was always so willing to share that knowledge with others. He will be greatly missed. His wife, Rebecca, planned to continue offering bird tours but, unfortunately, due to ill health has returned to UK.

Brian Davies and Yolanda Davies-Papen, currently part-time residents of Villamanrique de la Condesa, keen birders and bird photographers, will maintain and develop the Doņana Bird Tours web site. This will continue to feature John Butler's trip reports for the benefit of all.

Brian and Yolanda intend to move permanently to Doņana within the next couple of years and will then be able to offer comprehensive tours in the area. In the meantime they are able to offer a limited service of day tours. To check available dates see the Availablility section or email brian@donanabirdtours.com.

Brian Davies
31st January 2008

ROUTE UPDATE 23/05/2008

The road from Casa de Bombas to the JAV centre has now been graded and is good for all vehicles.

New Book

John Butler's new book "A Birdwatching Guide To Doņana" has now been sent to the publishers. The book was originally going to be called "The Hidden Doņana", but following advice from the publishers, the new title was chosen as it holds more relevant "key-words" that will be useful in any "search-engine" searches.

The book is based almost solely on the Doņana region, but there are a few sites, that although just outside the Doņana region, are important enough and close enough to warrant their inclusion.

Many other guide books, John's first book included, give some information on Doņana but really only scratch the surface of this area.
Most visitors to the area only get to see the easy to find official Visitors Centres, the El Rocío marshes and one or two other sites that are listed in current pulications. His new book will tell you exactly where to watch birds in Doņana and will cover almost 50 of the best sites in the region, over half of which will be completely new to nearly every visiting birder.

The sites chosen are those that he regularly used on the various itineraries for his guided tours and are completely unknown to most people, including other professional bird guides and will open up a treasure chest of sites and birds in this birdwatching wonderland.

Publication update
Unfortunately, due to her relocation to UK and starting a new job, Rebecca has yet to proof the new book. She has said that she will do this as soon as possible but has no firm date yet. I will post further updates when I know more.

The electronic (pdf) text file is available for those who need the guide right now. Go to the 'New Book' page to order it for immediate email delivery.

CLICK HERE for information on Johnīs new book "A Birdwatching Guide To Doņana".
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