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S2623 Exploring the Scenic British Isles

peterh35
14 hours ago
18 min read

Updated: 2 minutes ago

*All the photos in this blog were taken on this cruise - unless otherwise stated. Click on any image to expand to full size


2 September – Southampton sail away

The OWE team of Lorraine Soulby, Christine Murdie and Peter Howlett gathered at the City Cruise terminal to board Borealis for the 11-day cruise Exploring the Scenic British Isles. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t really playing ball for the sail away and it was overcast with drizzle and poor visibility. To make matters worse there weren’t even many birds around either, just a few Herring, Black-headed, and Mediterranean Gull, although a flock of about 800 Oystercatcher spotted on the bank of the Hamble bolstered numbers for the log a little.

The OWE team: Lorraine Soulby, Christine Murdie and Peter Howlett
The OWE team: Lorraine Soulby, Christine Murdie and Peter Howlett

3 September – at sea Lizard to the Irish Sea

The first sea day of the cruise started a little east of the Lizard at 06:25. Unfortunately, we were greeted with fog, drizzle and overcast skies, with visibility down to 2-300 metres, making spotting anything challenging to say the least. Amazingly, we did manage to pick up a handful of Common Dolphin, though only in ones and twos, and a couple did perform very nicely as they approached Borealis.

Birds were also very thin over the water, really just the ubiquitous Gannet and the odd gull. Despite the conditions, a couple of Gannet ventured close enough to warrant a photo, which look okay given the conditions. Gannet take at least five years to moult from their all grey-brown plumage they fledge with as a juvenile to the smart adult with all white plumage apart from the black wing tips. In between they appear with varying proportions of brown and white. Whilst not an exact science it is possible to age Gannet up to their fifth year by looking at the plumage. So, the bird on the left below is likely a two year old bird whilst the one on the right likely four years old.

We turned to the north to head between Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly around 09:30 and at the same time the cloud started to break and lift a little. As we continued north the wind, which had been a steady force four from the southwest, freshened to a force five-six and by 11:00 we had broken cloud and sunny spells and we could see!


Bird sightings improved as the weather cleared and we started seeing more Manx Shearwater. One or two of these tracked alongside Borealis for 10-15 minutes and came very close to the ship, allowing for some much better photos than we normally expect for this species.


We also saw our first Great Skua, a species that a few years ago would have been a common sight in the Channel and Celtic Sea. Sadly, they were the species hit hardest by bird flu with about 70% of the UK population lost. They are slowly recovering but it will be some time before they get back to their previous numbers.

Mid-morning we saw our first Cory’s Shearwater, including a flock of about 20. These birds breed on the Atlantic islands such as the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores and they move north to the waters off southern Ireland for a few weeks in the autumn. A few years ago, a flock of 20 would have been unheard of in the Celtic Sea but in the last few years there have been exceptional numbers around the Isles of Scilly and the Celtic Sea. This is most likely a response to food being plentiful in the area.


The Celtic Sea also brought us our first Fulmar and Arctic Skua. Along with many other species both have seen significant population declines in recent years, so it’s always nice to see them.


The afternoon was quiet for cetaceans, we had no sightings for around six hours, quite unusual for this area, although the choppy sea certainly didn’t help. The drought was finally broken as we approached the Pembrokeshire coast, with the Smalls Lighthouse off to starboard, with a few pods of Common Dolphin seen, mainly picked up aft of the ship. Christine and Lorraine managed to get a very brief sighting of two Striped Dolphin, an excellent record for the Celtic Sea, they are still rarely seen north of the Bay of Biscay. The photo here is a record shot from Borealis last year off the coast of Portugal.

There was further excitement near the end of the day when a guest said he thought he’d had a whale blow on the opposite side of the ship from where we were watching. We moved over to the port side and started scanning, after a few minutes we were amazed to see not one but four blows in unison a long way aft, followed by one significantly closer (photo). The strength of the blow meant they were almost certainly Fin Whale, a superb way to finish off the day.


4 September – Belfast and sail away

Unfortunately, we were practically alongside in Belfast as it was getting light so no opportunity for any wildlife watching, other than to see a mix of Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Common, and Black-headed Gulls feeding over the sediment stirred up by the thrusters as we docked.


After a short stretch of the legs in the city centre there was time to have a look at the RSPB reserve adjacent to where we were berthed. There was a nice selection of waders and wildfowl to be seen, mainly Black-tailed Godwit, Shoveler and Teal, with the best bird being a Ruff. Unfortunately, all the viewing points were glazed so no photos.

Back on board we were entertained with a Common Seal just off the ship and also some flocks of Greylag Geese flying past. It was interesting to see that they were a jumbled mass just after taking off but very quickly sorted themselves into a V-formation. They really are very pretty birds when seen in good light, a shame that they are just associated with being farmyard birds in the south of the UK.


Sail away was in lovely bright conditions, although we could have done without the 25 knot westerly – at least it was behind us so we could get out on deck six. A quiet corner just at the entrance to the port held a roosting flock of Oystercatcher as well as a good number of Eider. Further out we came across our first adult and juvenile Guillemot pairs. The plaintive peeping of the juvenile carries a long way and would be an almost ever-present sound for the next few days. Belfast Lough was certainly full of them, and we could see rafts of auks in the distance, most likely the females as it’s the males which look after the juveniles.

We passed Black Head lighthouse on the northern corner of Belfast Lough then headed north into the North Channel. A surprise sighting was a flock of about 300 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flying south, these were likely birds fresh in from Greenland or the Canadian Arctic heading to wintering grounds in Ireland. Sadly, we ended the day without a cetacean sighting.


5 September – Tobermory and sail away

We were just entering the Sound of Mull at first light so didn’t have too long to look for wildlife before anchoring. However, we did manage a brief sighting of three Common Dolphin, so at least we had cetaceans for the day.


As we passed Rubha nan Gall lighthouse we picked up at least three White-tailed Eagles over the nearby Morvern Peninsula, distant, but great to see. Also nice to see was a fly-over Great Northern Diver spotted by Lorraine and just enough time for Peter to fire off some shots. Shag and Turnstone were also seen as we waited for an opportunity to get a tender ashore. A line of four Gannet with trees as a backdrop looked almost out of place.

Tobermory sits in a lovely sheltered corner of Mull but with islands just 700m from the harbour Borealis was forced to anchor further offshore resulting in a 2km transfer from ship to shore. Once ashore you could appreciate the tranquillity of the town and its surroundings. There was time for a walk around the town and some lunch ashore before heading back.

Scanning the sound either side of Borealis revealed a pod of six Common Dolphin a couple of kilometres to the south. For a while it looked like they were heading our way, but they turned back south long before getting to us.

We had light winds for sail away so were able to stand on deck six looking forward and almost as soon as we had rounded Rubha nan Gall we picked up our first dolphins, a group of eight Common Dolphin, they were quickly followed by another eight and then a further 16 in fairly quick succession.


It was getting distinctly gloomy by the time we left the Sound of Mull and headed out into the Sea of the Hebrides with Ardnamurchan Point to starboard. There was an immediate increase in birds with hundreds of Manx Shearwater and Kittiwake around us and numerous feeding flocks dotted around. A shout from Peter alerted those still on six that there was a whale a ways off ahead. He thought it might be something other than a Minke but as we drew closer to where it was last seen it popped up again and turned out to be a Minke Whale. Almost immediately, another Minke was picked up ahead and then a third, what a great way to end the day.

Minke Whale
Minke Whale

6 September – sea day cruising Loch Broom and the North Minch

At first light we were approaching Priest Island, one of the larger of the Summer Isles, which line the entrance to Loch Broom. Sea conditions were good with a sea state two or three and the winds much lighter than forecast. Unfortunately, there were also frequent showers and low cloud, so light was poor and the rain kept us down on deck three.


We got off to a good start, with a couple of Harbour Porpoise followed by a pod of eight relatively close to the ship, allowing for half decent photos – doesn’t happen that often with Harbour Porpoise. These were followed by a pod of dolphins not seen well enough to identify – but likely Common Dolphin – and then a pod of five Common Dolphin.

There were plenty of Kittiwake and Shag flying around and Peter picked up two White-tailed Eagles sat on one of the smaller islands. The low clouds certainly gave an ethereal quality to the mountains at the entrance to Loch Broom.


As we entered Loch Broom the clouds lifted and we were able to get onto deck six which gave a much better view of the panorama ahead. Which looked even more dramatic when the odd ray of sunshine snuck through the cloud.

You might think that deep in a loch there wouldn’t be many birds but not so, a kilometre or so away from Ullapool we could see a huge raft of birds on the water with a large number actively feeding to one side. There must have been a couple of thousand birds present, all gulls of one species or another. By far the most numerous were Herring Gull, we estimated about 800 followed by Kittiwake with 400 or so. However, there were also many Lesser and Great Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls and 200 or so Guillemot. We couldn’t see what they were feeding on but it was most likely a large shoal of small fish.


We sailed past Ullapool and continued almost six kilometres further into the loch before turning around and retracing our route back out. Unfortunately, the views were rather hidden by cloud for much of the time, but a shoreside waterfall caught the eye as did a couple of juvenile Rook which flew right alongside the ship.

The sail out of the loch was quieter than on the way in, the feeding flock had dispersed and there were now few birds to be seen, although pairs of adult and juvenile Guillemot were still constantly calling, especially once we had passed Ullapool. A distant pod of 12 Common Dolphin followed by a couple of Harbour Porpoise were the only cetaceans seen before we exited the loch and sailed past the Summer Isles and, once clear of them, turned to the north and towards our next port of call, Kirkwall.


While we had been in Loch Broom the wind had freshened and was now blowing 25-30 knots from the south, fortunately that meant it was behind us and it was actually quite pleasant on deck six. Which is just as well as the afternoon turned into quite a dolphin-fest.

It started off with Christine spotting two Bottlenose Dolphin behind the ship and then kicked into gear with 120 Common Dolphin logged in the following two hours or so. The guests with us on deck six were treated to some great performances as several pods of dolphin leapt into towards the bow of Borealis. A couple of the pods were a decent size too, with one of about 50 and another of 20 or so. The pod of 50 really put on a show as it travelled down the port side with many juveniles being really energetic. In fact, it was really good to see lots of juveniles and very small calves in amongst many of the pods.

The run was topped off with Peter picking up two pods of Risso’s Dolphin going down the port side, one of eight the other 12. Photos showed both pods had several very small calves with them. The North Minch is well known for this species and is clearly somewhere they give birth to their young.


7 September – Kirkwall and sail away

Once again, we were approaching the dock by the time it was light, although there was plenty to be seen from the ship with Grey Seal alongside and many Eider and Black Guillemots also around.

Bright and breezy weather made for a very pleasant day ashore for all those on tours and exploring by themselves. Highlights were Whooper Swan, Merlin and Golden Plover amongst commoner species.

There was bright late afternoon sunshine for sail away, which lit up the lighthouses on Helliar Holm and Auskerry, but there were few seabirds, with Fulmar the most noticeable. As we rounded Copinsay we were heading straight into 25 knots of wind which made six a no-go zone. Lorraine had a brief view of a couple of dolphins but didn’t get enough on them to say what they were. As we headed towards our next port, Stornoway, the Captain was warning us about a possibly bumpy night ahead as the forecast was not good.


8 September – scenic cruising Dutchman’s Cap and Fingal’s Cave

The Captain increased speed overnight in an effort to get us alongside in Stornoway before strong winds arrived. Sadly, the weather beat him and us and with a 30-35 knot westerly pushing against the side of the ship the Borealis just didn’t have enough power to get alongside. So, at first light we found that we were heading south down the North Minch towards the Shiant Isles and were informed that the plan for tomorrow would happen today instead, a scenic cruise to Dutchman’s Cap and the Isle of Staffa for Fingal’s Cave.


Unfortunately, the wind hadn’t relented at all and as a result all outside decks were closed and we were forced to do our deck watch from the comfort of the Observatory on deck nine.

Despite the restricted visibility, we actually saw a good number of Common Dolphin during the morning, 110 in 11 encounters. The OWE team being in the Observatory caused a bit of a stir as we started pointing out dolphins to quite a few guests who hadn’t seen any so far on the cruise and to guests who don’t venture out on deck much, if at all. The conditions also made for some relatively close sightings of European Storm Petrel, the wind seemingly giving them more to worry about than the presence of the ship.

Eventually, around 11:00 we turned to the south-southeast, into the Sea of the Hebrides, and with the wind behind us the decks were reopened and we could get out on deck six. We had a rash of six encounters with Common Dolphin in the space of 30 minutes, including some giving excellent views as they came towards Borealis – much to the excitement of several guests who were with us – especially the sight of small calves leaping in unison with their mothers.

There was a pause in sightings for a couple of hours allowing us to take in the scenery, which at this point was Oigh Sgeir island with its white lighthouse standing out brightly in the sunshine, with the island of Rum behind it. A little while later another landmark could be seen in the distance, Ardnamurchan lighthouse. As we drew closer to the island of Coll, we picked up another six encounters with Common Dolphin in fairly quick succession followed by a brief glimpse of a Minke Whale.

The sun was on the wrong side of us to see Dutchman’s Cap – or properly Bac Mòr – very well but things looked okay for Staffa and Fingal’s Cave, the island ringed with white water and with waves breaking against the cliffs. A close approach gave us a good view of the cave, but we needed to leave deck six before we turned around and headed into the, still very strong, wind.

During the day birds had been dominated by Manx Shearwater, perhaps not surprising given the 300,000 pairs nesting on the island of Rum, or that a large number of the 600,000 pairs nesting in Wales also forage up in this area. Kittiwake were also numerous and we had several Great Skua and four Arctic Skua.


During the day the Captain announced that they had managed to arrange a stop at  Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland as a replacement for Stornoway. A sterling effort from all at Fred. Olsen to sort that out in such a short time.

9 September – Killybegs

At first light we had just entered Donegal Bay and were heading along the north coast towards the small town of Killybegs. Some dramatic light on the clouds as the sun rose added to the feeling, we were going somewhere different.

Sunrise approaching Killybegs
Sunrise approaching Killybegs

The pilot boat raced out towards us, and we made our way slowly past St John’s Point and then Rotten Island, before creeping up the narrow channel into the lovely harbour of Killybegs, packed with large, high-tech fishing boats. Apparently, they fish offshore during the winter months, hence them all being in port now.

The town was a short 15 minute walk along the harbour front from where the Borealis docked. It was interesting watching the Hooded Crows taking periwinkles from the shore and dropping them on the road to crack the shells, they also looked very smart against the dark of the seaweed covered rocks.


After stopping for a tea and a spot of lunch it was back to the Borealis ready for sail away. Our route away from Killybegs took us past Carrigan Head with its Napoleonic-era Martello tower and the 600m cliffs at Sliabh Liag.

As soon as we edged out of Donegal Bay, we were into birds, mostly Manx Shearwater but also our first Sooty Shearwaters. We thought we might have seen Sooties before now as there were plenty around, but we’d avoided them (or they us).


We also found Common Dolphin straight away too, with 37 animals in nine encounters in less than an hour. Some of these again performed quite nicely for the guests on board and it was interesting to see the small pods also featured juveniles or calves.


There was a little bit of drama just after sunset when an Irish coastguard helicopter requested permission to have a practice approach and landing a winchman on board. Seeing the helicopter hovering above the stern in what was still a stiff breeze really emphasises the skills these pilots have.

Irish coastguard helicopter over the stern of Borealis
Irish coastguard helicopter over the stern of Borealis

A very different day to the one we were expecting from the original itinerary.


10 September – Galway

We dropped anchor before dawn and as soon as you went on deck you knew it wasn’t going to go well today. The forecast had not been good for today and it turned out even worse with 25 knot southwesterly winds blowing straight into the bay and there were large swells either side of Borealis. Tenders were launched but it wasn’t long before all tender operations were cancelled. When you saw one of the Aran ferries heading out past the Borealis you knew it wouldn’t have been very pleasant getting ashore. It wouldn’t have been a nice day ashore in any case as there was rain or drizzle for much of the day.

One of the Aran Islands ferries passing Borealis
One of the Aran Islands ferries passing Borealis

With little else to do other than look at the sea it soon transpired that there was a little bit of Manx Shearwater movement around the bay. Initially, in the worst of the weather, they were passing between ship and shore but as the weather cleared, they were still there but just a bit further out. In the space of a couple of hours, Peter counted at least 500.


We departed Galway earlier than planned, which suited us as it gave us longer at sea, in what could be a very productive area. We would pass fairly close to the Bridges of Ross, one of the best seawatching sites in the UK and Ireland. We’d been checking what had been passing there and there’d already been some good birds.

Black Head, Co Donegal
Black Head, Co Donegal

We had Manx Shearwater with us from the start but as we rounded Black Head lighthouse and headed out past the Aran Islands the number increased dramatically and there was a steady stream of birds between us and the coast. The Burren coast looked amazing from the sea with huge areas of bare limestone looking very featureless from a distance.


Two small waders flying low over the water caught Peter’s attention – Grey Phalarope – one of the hoped for species. The sighting was brief and unfortunately not many of the guests got on them. There were also plenty of Kittiwake and Gannet around too, although numbers tailed off quite dramatically once we’d passed the Cliffs of Moher. The only bird of note after that was a single Cory’s Shearwater.

There were plenty of Common Dolphin encounters, but unlike most of them so far these were fleeting and distant with very few coming in to bow ride. We ended up with 15 encounters but only 29 animals.


It looked like we wouldn’t get to see the Cliffs of Moher as a heavy shower passed between us and the cliffs, thankfully the stiff breeze blew it through quickly and we actually had a moment with some of these spectacular cliffs in sunshine.

Next stop is Cobh on the south coast.


11 September – Cobh

We were on the approach to the outer limits of Cork harbour as the sun rose and we sailed up the narrow channel towards Cobh in light winds and warm sunshine – a stark contrast to yesterday! Cobh is a lovely picturesque waterside town and looked fantastic in the early morning light.

Cobh waterfront
Cobh waterfront

Some of the OWE team took a short 40 minute walk to the Cuskinny nature reserve just east of Cobh. The reserve is a lovely small lake surrounded by trees with a stream running out unto a rocky beach. There were plenty of Little Grebe on the lake and also a few Grey Heron and a Little Egret. Birds seen but not photographed included Kingfisher, Moorhen, Water Rail and Greenshank.


After a relaxing day ashore, it was time to get back on board for sail away, a little later today at 19:00, which meant we’d barely get out of the harbour before sunset. As we were waiting to leave a couple of adult Mediterranean Gull flew around the dockside and came overhead, looking glorious against the bright blue sky. We also had the company of a Grey Seal alongside the ship, although guests had seen several more around earlier in the day and two lucky guests saw an Otter.

The highlight of the day was to come a few minutes after we had cast off and headed out down the channel towards the open sea. A dolphin breached a few hundred metres off the port bow – a Bottlenose Dolphin – somehow on its second breach Peter managed to just about get a photo. Just goes to show you should never stop looking and you never know what you might see.

Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose Dolphin

We left the deck at about 19:30 as the light went and we set off to the southeast back towards the Isles of Scilly.


11 September – at sea Land’s End to Portland

At first light we were about 35 kilometres NW of Land’s End and just about to enter the Land’s End Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), which forces vessels to sail in designated north and south channels between Land’s End and the Isles of Scilly. It was too breezy up on deck six, so we had to make do with the promenade deck.


A couple of dolphin sightings early on were, frustratingly, too brief to confirm identity and there were relatively few birds around too, just a few Manx Shearwater. As we entered the TSS the freight ferry Delphine, doing about 1.5 knots more than us, slowly started to overtake. Having a ship relatively close and approaching from behind, we just had to keep the binoculars on the bow in the hope there might be dolphins bow riding.

The perseverance paid off, there they were, looking tiny against the size of the ship (plus the fact the ship was still 1000m or so away from us – large vessels don’t get close to each other at sea). It was fascinating to watch at least four leaping out of the sea ahead of the bow wave. A ship’s hull creates a pressure wave ahead of the bow and this is enough to propel a dolphin through the water, so they get a free ride and free energy for leaping.


As soon as we left the TSS we were able to turn to the east and the wind was then more or less behind us. With that, we moved up to deck six, which was lovely and warm in the sun, the downside being we were looking into the glare of the sun.


Birds remained thin on the ground, although a flock of 20 or so Great Shearwater crossing the bow added a little excitement. Dolphins were hard to come by too; we had a little rash of five encounters with 26 Common Dolphin over the course of one and a half hours mid-morning but then there was a five hour gap until late afternoon before the next sightings.

The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth heading west down the Channel made for a bit of interest for some of those on deck six.

Around 16:00 we picked up some large feeding flocks of birds way ahead of us. As we got closer, we could see there were tuna feeding frenzies beneath the birds and there were a lot of birds. The birds in flight were mainly Herring, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls, perhaps 2000 or so across multiple flocks. However, even more impressive were the rafts of shearwaters, there must have been in the region of 10,000 Manx Shearwater spread across several large flocks and mixed in with them were 3000 or so Great Shearwater, spread out over two or three kilometres of sea – an impressive spectacle. It was only later looking at the photos that Peter found that over one of the tuna boils there had been a juvenile Sabine’s Gull.

With all this feeding activity there were also a few dolphins, and we had four encounters with 17 Common Dolphin, perhaps not many given how much feeding was going on.


After the feeding frenzies it all went very quiet, with few birds and no cetaceans. Then around 18:00 we started picking up dolphin again and in the space of 45 minutes had nine encounters with 55 Common Dolphin. That brought the day, and the cruise to a close, given we’d be alongside first thing in the morning. It had been a really enjoyable 11 days with a good number of dolphins and some plenty of interesting birds seen.


A table of all the cetacean sightings on the cruise can be seen below.


Acknowledgements

The Ocean Wildlife Encounters team would like to thank Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, the Captain and crew of MS Borealis for their support and looking after us so well. We would also like to thank the cruise guests who took the time to attend our talks and join us on deck watches, sharing the incredible wildlife and scenery of Scotland, Ireland and the UK. Hopefully we’ll see a few of you on forthcoming cruises with Fred. Olsen.


Table of Cetacean sightings for the cruise

Species

Total

Common Bottlenose Dolphin

3

Common Dolphin

632

Common Minke Whale

5

Dolphin sp.

14

Fin Whale

5

Harbour Porpoise

12

Risso's Dolphin

20

Striped Dolphin

2

Grand Total

693

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

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