Day 1. 14/09/24 – North Shields
After early afternoon embarkation on MS Balmoral, the team, and Clare’s dad Brian, were out on deck for sailaway. As the ship passed through the Tyne piers and turned slightly to the south east, a stiff southwesterly breeze cutting across the bow soon led to the observation deck being clear of guests, and left the team searching for the most sheltered location they could find. Great and Arctic skuas passed by together, and a distant flock of diving northern gannets were above a small group of white-beaked dolphins before the gloom and the wind and rain encouraged the team back inside.


Day 2. 15/09/24 - North Sea
From dawn, to the east of Norfolk, until dusk, when the ship was south of Brighton, it was a quiet day with just eight different bird species seen. Martin had the honour of giving the first of the ‘guest enrichment’ lectures for the cruise and opened with an introduction to OWE and wildlife of the North Sea, then the team ran a ‘How to use your binoculars’ workshop with some very helpful gannets following close behind the ship and giving guests the opportunity to practice their binocular skills.

Day 3. 16/09/24 – West of Guernsey to the northern edge of the Bay of Biscay
A beautifully calm sea greeted the team before breakfast, and large shearwaters, as well as common dolphins and minke whales heralded the start of an extraordinary day at sea. North of the Bay of Biscay, common dolphins were the predominant marine mammal, with a bare minimum of 250 seen, including a mind-blowing stampede of at least 50, including very small calves, just after 1pm when the team were able to assist lots of cruise guests with locating dolphins, as well as the 3000 or so Cory’s shearwaters and nearly 1000 great shearwaters seen during the day. Rarer seabirds were represented by Balearic shearwater, Barolo shearwater, and Sabine’s gull, and a migrating Turtle dove circled the ship sporadically. As sightings of dolphins and shearwaters dried up the team checked the ship’s location, heading and speed and suggested to guests that 4pm would be a good time to be back out on deck…and at 4.02pm the first of no fewer than 57 fin whales, over a period of three and a half hours, appeared ahead of the bow!





Day 4. 17/09/24 – West of A Coruna to south west of Porto
The dawn greeted everyone on the ship with a foamy sea and deep rolling swell. Cory’s shearwaters were still around, although generally just ones and twos, and with overnight winds from the mainland landbirds, including yellow, white, and grey wagtails, reed warblers, and pied flycatchers, were seeking shelter on the ship. In poor sea conditions, the marine mammal list for the day was limited, with just ten fin whales, one sperm whale and three unidentified whales. A group of guests, and some of the crew, saw a group of killer whales while the team were having dinner just before it got dark!
Clare ran a very popular ‘How to Draw Birds’ workshop, and then scoured the decks after dark for any invertebrates that had been blown out to sea and were fortunate enough to land on the ship. This started a regular evening/early morning routine of rescuing red-veined darters that had managed to get themselves stuck in small puddles of water on the outer decks.


Day 5. 18/09/24 – West of Lisbon to south of Lagos
After the poor sea conditions of the previous day, there was a return to flat calm. Landbirds were still on the ship, including a very obliging reed warbler, but seabirds were thin on the ground. The team ran an invertebrate ‘show and tell’ at the rear of deck 7, with the haul from the previous evening. Silver-striped hawk-moth, Western conifer seed bug and migratory locust all proved very popular with lots of intrigued guests.
Mark gave his ‘Bird migration at Gibraltar’ talk to an audience who were mainly astonished at the vast numbers of birds that cross to Africa each year.
It hadn’t been a great day for cetacean sightings, with ten common dolphins and three unidentified whales, then as Martin was walking laps of the promenade deck he managed to be on the wrong side of the ship as two pygmy sperm whales surfaced in front of the other team members!





Day 6. 19/09/24 – Gibraltar
A very welcome port day after four consecutive sea days saw a morning arrival in Gibraltar. Common dolphins were near the port, although kept disappearing behind the huge number of vessels anchored there. Martin and Mark opted to visit the top of the rock, while Clare and Brian remained closer to sea level. After a bus journey, then a cable car followed by a short walk, Barbary macaques were soon added to the trip list. Around the area where lots of visitors were close to the macaques, and interacting with them despite all of the warning notices, there was some aggression, and macaques using people as springboards to get from one side of the road to the other. Just a few minutes in either direction along the path it was much more relaxed and possible to just sit and watch the macaques getting on with their day where they weren’t being pestered by tourists. Sardinian warblers were along the roads and tracks, and a small number of booted eagles started rising in thermals ready for the crossing to Africa. Once back on the ship, the team and some of the guests enjoyed watching raptors, including booted eagle and honey buzzard, heading out over the straits and two peregrines giving them a less than friendly send-off 😊
As we departed common dolphins, and striped dolphins, were still in the same area where we’d seen them as we arrived and more common dolphins, Balearic shearwaters and Scopoli’s shearwaters held our attention until it was just about too dark to see anything.



Day 7. 20/09/24 – Cartagena
An early arrival in Cartagena saw the hillsides around the port bathed in beautiful light as we approached. A walk around the town produced few birds, other than regular Sardinian warblers, and a blue rock thrush for Mark and Martin when they ventured into the foothills just outside of the town. Once we were almost back at the ship a stand of trees held spotless starlings, monk parakeets, spotted and pied flycatchers and a nearby feeding flock of barn swallows had a single red-rumped swallow with them. Scopoli’s shearwater was the most frequently seen seabird as we departed in the late afternoon.



Day 8. 21/09/24 – Ibiza
Almost the most memorable thing from our day in Ibiza was the weather. Heavy rain made the steps and paths heading towards the top of Old Town quite treacherous, and a thunderstorm had people heading for lower ground when their hair started to stand on end! After meeting up with Mark’s wife and mother-in law for lunch, which was an extraordinary experience as the weather worsened and we sat eating paella in torrential rain and howling winds, the weather improved and we had a walk around the marina and then headed back to the cruise terminal, where a very obliging Mediterranean flycatcher and a less than obliging hummingbird hawk-moth were just outside the terminal building.
Yellow-legged and Audouin’s gulls were flying around the port before we sailed in the late evening.


Day 9. 22/09/24 – East of Menorca to north west of Sardinia
After three consecutive port days we were back at sea for a full day and, with a lone Yelkouan shearwater being the only seabird, it was a day that started with ominous skies and distant thunderstorms before being filled with migrating landbirds. Honey buzzard, marsh harrier and short-toed eagle were all a long way from land, demonstrating the remarkable sea crossings that these large raptors are capable of, and we encountered three kestrels crossing the Mediterranean, including one that decided to accompany the ship and try it’s luck hunting yellow wagtails on the upper decks! Yellow wagtails were the most frequently recorded bird, with several flying straight over us and continuing their southbound journey. Moltoni’s warbler, Western black-eared wheatear and a cracking male common redstart were among the highlights of a fascinating insight into migration well away from the famous narrow crossing points like Gibraltar. Invertebrates provided a lot of interest as well, with locusts, shieldbugs, moths, including a convolvulus hawk-moth, and a noisy two-spotted cricket all attracting the attention of guests, and providing content for Clare’s ‘Moth trapping’ workshop.








Day 10. 23/09/24 – Olbia, Sardinia
Another port day saw Mark and Martin taking a taxi ride to the far side of the bay from the cruise terminal. It started well, with three honey buzzards spiralling up in the warm morning air, but that was it for migrating raptors! The long walk back to the ship was enlivened by a very obliging Italian wall lizard, and Corsican swallowtails tussling over prime perches and nectaring spots.




Day 11. 24/09/24 – Ajaccio, Corsica
Wandering along the sea front and around the town of Ajaccio didn’t produce great numbers of any individual bird species, other than Italian and tree sparrows, although one patch of trees and scrubby vegetation between the town walls proved to be a treasure trove of passerines, including serin, common whitethroat, Mediterranean flycatcher and spotless starling.
As we began the journey back westwards along the Mediterranean the weather quickly deteriorated and we were in torrential rain and a thunderstorm. The OWE team and a few hardy guests were out on deck and, in light that it would be generous to describe as poor, were rewarded with at least five striped dolphins that were breaching before vanishing in the gloom.


Day 12. 25/09/24 – Mahon, Menorca
On the approach to Menorca the team had checked the bathymetry of the seabed and, right on an interesting looking edge, six bottlenose and 20 common dolphins were seen before breakfast 😊 Scopoli’s shearwaters passed close by the bow, in beautiful light that seemed a world away from the grim weather just a few hours previously.
Mahon itself proved to be incredibly wildlife-rich. More than 20 booted eagles, at least 15 red kites, and an astonishing 53 cattle egrets were seen either from the ship or nearby. Over 200 barn swallows were presumably feeding up in preparation for a long sea crossing, and Cetti’s warbler, zitting cisticola, and serin were among the passerines seen. Lots of interesting invertebrates were seen, including wasp spider, copper demoiselle, hummingbird hawkmoth and carpenter bee, and Clare and Brian found at least eight hoopoes in one small area. Moorish gecko, and a Hermann’s tortoise, photographed by one of the guests, added to an impressive day list.









Day 13. 26/09/24 – Palma, Majorca
After a wildlife-filled day in Mahon, Palma was remarkably disappointing. Only 17 different bird species were seen either at sea or on land, with kingfisher a highlight of the day.
Day 14. 27/09/24 – at sea, heading from Palma to Cadiz
Continuing our westward passage along the Mediterranean, we had a day of deep rolling swell and frothy white wave tops. Small number of Scopoli’s and Balearic shearwater, a very out of range Sabine’s gull, two marsh harriers and a kestrel were overshadowed by at least 500 barn swallows mainly migrating low over the sea. We had an addition to our cetacean list for the cruise as a small group of long-finned pilot whales appeared in the swell, and then common dolphins burst horizontally out of rolling waves. Another addition to the trip list were five flyingfish spp. Mark gave a very popular lecture covering ‘Marine life of the Mediterranean’.



Day 15. 28/09/24 – Cadiz
Our final port day continued the migrating barn swallow theme of the previous day, with at least 500 seen. Northern wheatear migration was evident too, with at least 30 arriving in small groups along the sea front. Mediterranean gulls were very obliging, as were ruddy turnstones including birds that were walking around the feet of people on the beach! Rock pools held good numbers of waders, with whimbrel, ruddy turnstone, sanderling and ringed plover all seen, and red-veined darters were incredibly abundant.
Departing late afternoon, northern gannets and bottlenose dolphins were the highlight of the first couple of hours at sea.



Day 16. 29/09/24 – west of Lagos to south west of Porto
Our route north past the Portuguese coast was much close to land than we’d been when southbound, and that proved to be much more productive. Seabirds, including great and pomarine skua, band-rumped storm petrel, Sabine’s gull and Cory’s, sooty nd Manx shearwater were the supporting cast to fin whales and Risso’s, common and striped dolphins. One guest, on their 46th cruise, saw whales and dolphins for the first time while standing with our team and they were just about lost for words, certainly quieter than the two-spotted cricket that was chirping away throughout most of the day 😊 Clare ran another popular workshop, this time ‘Batty about flying mammals’ – an introduction to bats and bat detecting. This was also the day that Brian demonstrated the level of patience and concentration required to find flyingfish in areas where they’re scarce, and helped other cruise guests to see them.





Day 17. 30/09/24 – southern Bay of Biscay
As we crossed the Bay of Biscay sightings were sparse, although European, Leach’s and band-rumped storm petrels, and common and striped dolphins were all seen. As we approached the northern area of Biscay, a total of seven fin whales were found, close to the area where we’d had sightings on our southbound journey. Martin gave a very well attended review of the cruise so far, and Clare’s final workshop ‘Discover a world in miniature’ had several of the guests logging on to their Amazon accounts and researching microscopes 😊



Day 18. 01/10/24 – Brittany to Sussex
As we headed east along the English Channel, meadow pipits passed by in small groups, northern gannet, Manx shearwater, black-legged kittiwake and razorbill were the most frequently encountered seabirds, and an interesting sighting, that had lots of the cruise guests wondering exactly what it was, came as we passed the European Space Agency hybrid diesel/wind vessel Canopee.



Day 19. 02/10/24 – Suffolk to North Lincolnshire
Our final sea day started with drizzle and mist at dawn, and although the sea was flat calm it deteriorated throughout the day. As soon as it was light, a check around the decks produced robin, blackcap, chiffchaff, siskin and white wagtail. Small numbers of passerines, including two redwings and a grey wagtail, continued to pass by during the day with the swell so deep, and the wind so strong, that the front of the promenade deck was closed off, just beyond the steps where a silver-striped hawk-moth was roosting. Great, arctic and pomarine skuas, black-legged kittiwake, little gull and Leach’s petrel were among the seabirds battling with the breeze and a flock of 71 brent geese were a reminder that winter is coming. Two harbour porpoises and two grey seals were the only marine mammals seen in conditions that weren’t conducive to observation. Martin gave another review lecture to well over 100 guests in the Neptune Lounge.




Day 20. 03/10/24 – North Shields
Early morning arrival in the Tyne, and a return to the chilly autumnal air of NE England.
Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, the crew of MS Balmoral, and Peel Talent for enabling Ocean Wildlife Encounters to support this cruise, and of course, to all of the cruise guests who spent time on deck with us and delivered an endless stream of questions and a level of entertainment that money can’t buy.
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