Heatherlea (Scotland) Ltd based at The Mountview Hotel, Nethy Bridge, is only the second company in the country to receive all five stars for their "wildlife experience" – and the only one on the Scottish mainland.

Heatherlea organise full week residential holidays to see birds, mammals insects and flora in the region and also offer single day wildlife watching trips.

Director Kevin Shaw said: "The award of five stars is a fantastic achievement, well-earned by our dedicated team. We have always set high standards for our days in the field, and our birding guides and hotel staff thoroughly deserve this recognition."

Heatherlea are about to celebrate their 20th season of wildlife watching holidays in the Highlands. Mr Shaw said the award could not have come at a better time.

"In difficult trading conditions, we are marketing very hard to ensure a great year for our 20th anniversary," he said.

"We already have more advance bookings for the Mountview Hotel in 2010 than at this stage in any previous year, and this award will help confirm our strong position as market leaders in Scottish wildlife holidays.

"Independent accreditation is very important to us because our customers are well-informed and discerning.

"Our award can only be good news for tourism in Badenoch and Strathspey in general."

Heatherlea guides celebrating the company's latest success are (from left) Kevin Shaw, Jonny Pott, Ian Ford, Mike Coleman and John Poyner.

Heathlea's itinerary changes with the seasons.

Guests stay for most of the week at The Mountview Hotel but by spending for one or two nights on the West Coast, each holiday covers all the key birdlife of the Highlands during the week.

The company began operations at Heatherlea Guest House – hence the name – in Boat of Garten in 1991 but continued to expand and moved to their present base in 1998.

Continued growth led to them launching their first GO FURTHER! holidays based in the Scottish islands in 2000, and in 2003 they started running international holidays.

The company now visits around 30 worldwide destinations each year, including the Galapagos Islands, Yellowstone Park in the United States and India, with Gambia, Nepal and Japan being their latest new additions.

Five stars is the highest level of Quality Assurance award offered by VisitScotland and is only given to those operators found to be 'exceptional' by their assessors.

The other Scottish operator with five "wildlife experience" stars is Islay Birdwatching, which is run by Jeremy Hastings.

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