Mark Newsome​

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I wrote into my first bird notebook back in 1980, and have had a dedicated passion for wildlife ever since. Introduced to seawatching at Flamborough Head in the mid-1980s, it soon became an obsession. Chasing rare birds around the country became history and I was much happier sitting on a headland year round and in all weathers, watching and counting the amazing migration of seabirds.

 

Since 2003, I’ve have lived in north-east England, with the migration hotspot of Whitburn almost on my doorstep. Many hours of seawatching here peaked with the first UK records of Giant Petrel sp. in 2019 and Soft-plumaged Petrel in 2021. My local patch cetacean list features 11 species, including Sowerby’s Beaked Whale and Orca!

 

I have travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, including leading birdwatching tours for Bird Holidays for a time pre-covid. Since taking early retirement from my ‘proper job’ in HMRC in 2021, I have tried to travel the oceans as much as possible, visiting the waters of Antarctica, South America, the West Pacific, Japan, Oman, the Arctic… All in search of seabirds and cetaceans. Joining the OWE team has now given me the chance to continue scanning those waves for fins and petrels and share my love of marine wildlife.