T2621 - COASTAL AND CULTURAL SCOTTISH ISLES
Updated: Sep 29
Most of the images in this blog were taken during the cruise - click on any images to view large.
27th August – Sail away from Liverpool
The OWE team, Anno, Ian, Chris and Dave along with prospective new team member Andrea, gathered on the observation area on Deck 6 forward as Bolette headed out of the Mersey and into Liverpool Bay. Before the ship had moved we’d been looking for Harbour Porpoises in the river without success but there was a Peregrine Falcon having a long preening session atop one of the Liver Birds.
Liverbird and Peregrine © Chris Vaghela / OWE Zooming in on the Peregrine © Chris Vaghela / OWE
Sail away was at low tide so the sandbanks on the Wirral side would be exposed with the chance of seeing Grey Seals hauled out on them. Seven were spotted, most being on the river’s training wall rather than on the sand banks themselves. On the other side, wheeling around over Antony Gormley’s ‘Another Place’ statues on the beach was an impressive murmuration of a flock of Knot. Sailing out over a calm sea a little further on we started to see Common Terns along with a few Sandwich Terns and a ‘pale phase’ Arctic Skua, the terns’ nemesis. A couple of Mediterranean Gulls were a great bonus spot. As we turned away from the coast and out into open water, heading towards the Bar Lightship, Harbour Porpoises started to appear, an animal here and there at first and then more frequently. By the time we’d reached the lightship we’d recorded an impressive 17, including a group of four. The lightship was festooned with Cormorants as usual.
Fading light as we approached the Isle of Man ending the day’s watch.
28th August – At sea in the Hebridean Sea
Dawn broke with a sunrise over the Paps of Jura.
A calm sea and good visibility made for great watching conditions and the wildlife didn’t disappoint. Common Dolphins were seen before breakfast! The day was peppered with Gannets, Kittiwakes, Manx Shearwaters and rafts of Guillemots as far as the eye could see in all directions the fluting calls of the juveniles being answered by their fathers’ guttural “krrrrrr”, while four Wheatears hitched a ride with us, shame we were going back from whence they came.
Gannet © Andrea Kirkham / OWE Juvenile Kittiwake © Dave McGrath / OWE Wheatear © Chris Vaghela / OWE
The cetaceans didn’t disappoint either. Pods of Common Dolphins of varying sizes appeared at intervals throughout the morning eventually numbering over 200 in total. One of the pods of Common Dolphins also held seven Bottlenose Dolphins. A little ‘purple patch’ of Minke Whales appeared just before lunch, with 8 being seen. A handful of Harbour Porpoise were also seen throughout the day.
Common Dolphins © Chris Vaghela / OWE Minke Whale © Anno Brandreth / OWE
After lunch a guest lounging in a deckchair told Ian she’d seen a whale blow. A few minutes of intense watching later a Fin Whale surfaced only 200m from the side of the ship never to be seen again. A fantastic sighting for those few lucky guests who were in the right place at the right time.
4 single Sooty Shearwater, a few rather distant Storm Petrel, 10 Great Skua (aka Bonxies) and half a dozen Arctic Skua made for a decent supporting cast.
Along with the Wheatears hitching a ride we also found a couple of moths hidden away in Deck 3’s nooks and crannies, a Large Yellow Underwing and a Silver Y.
A superb day ended with the best sunset of the cruise.
29th August – Lerwick, Shetland
There was a short window of opportunity to get a watch in before we dropped anchor in Lerwick harbour, a Great Skua was one of the first birds seen. Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Gannets accompanied Bolette as she made her way up Bressay Sound. Once in the harbour and at anchor we watched flotillas of Eider Ducks and Black Guillemots going about their business while searching for any seals and Otters that might be lurking on the seaweed covered rocks around the harbour. The Black Guillemots and Eiders were in a confusing variety of transitional plumages now the breeding season was over.
Eider © Chris Vaghela / OWE Black Guillemots © Chris Vaghela / OWE
Two Red-throated Divers swam around the moored-up replica Viking Longboat.
Once all the guests were ashore on their respective excursions the OWE team had a walk around the Loch of Clickimin at the back of town. Here we were fortunate to witness not one but two attempts of kleptoparasitism by two species of skuas…surely a once in a lifetime experience in such a suburban setting! First up a Great Skua had it in for a Tufted Duck and was joined by a second, then a few minutes later an Arctic Skua decided it was time for an Arctic Tern to hand over its hard-earned lunch.
Great Skua © Chris Vaghela / OWE Arctic Skua harrying Arctic Tern © Dave McGrath / OWE
The trees and shrubs around the lake held Siskins, Redpolls and a Chiffchaff, while the walk back along the coastal path from Tescos gave the team views of a Whimbrel and couple of lads catching Mackerel for their tea.
Several Kittiwakes were hunting the large shoal of fish close to the harbour wall, one was eventually successful.
A rather large but very dead Sea Urchin was also by the jetty for the tender back to the ship.
Back on board the team set up telescopes to scan the harbour and its surroundings. A large flock of Kittiwakes plunged for food in the distance by the fish dock and were joined by a few diving Gannets. All this activity caught the attention of a passing Arctic Skua sensing the chance of an easy meal. Close by, hauled out on the rocks was a Harbour Seal. Searching the rocks around the harbour for more seals and perhaps an Otter we came across some waders namely about 50 Oystercatchers, 16 Redshanks, eight Turnstones and a single Curlew. Within the harbour there were also two more seals which remained unidentified as to which species they were.
Guests who went on shore excursions came back having seen exciting wildlife such as a Risso’s Dolphins off Sumburgh Head and an Otter along with several Grey Seals and a White Wagtail on the harbour wall.
The late sail away only gave about half an hour of reasonable light during which we couldn’t find any cetaceans
30th August – Kirkwall, Orkney
Our arrival into Kirkwall was early morning and we were alongside before breakfast. The team decided not to go ashore until after lunch so once again set up the telescopes to have a scan around the deep water terminal where we found the ubiquitous Black Guillemots, Shags, Fulmars and Kittiwakes. A seal nosed through the Kelp beds away in the distance.
Ashore the shuttle bus stops right next to the Peedie Sea, a small brackish lake across the road from the town’s harbour. Here we found exotica such as Mallards, Mute Swans, Wigeon and four Shovelers. Across the road on the beach one of the guests out for a stroll came across a sickly looking Red-throated Diver hauled out on the sand, we hoped it would paddle back out to sea when the tide rose again.
Guests on the excursions fared far better than we did seeing a Glaucous Gull and another Otter, a guest also saw an Otter around the terminal area.
Back on Bolette the team continued to search the area around Bolette. There were plenty of Greylag Geese and Eider Ducks to be seen along with both Common and Arctic Terns, the adults still being harassed by their fledged young for food.
Sail away was a disaster for the team, while we were seeing very little from the front of the ship, guests dining in The View were enjoying a pod of about six Common Dolphins behind us. Although Chris came up trumps later when on his last look at the decks before retiring for the night he found some stowaways, two Meadow Pipits and three Wheatears.
Meadow Pipits © Chris Vaghela / OWE Meadow Pipit © Chris Vaghela / OWE Wheatear © Chris Vaghela / OWE
31st August – Stornoway
Once again, we had an early arrival into port but this time there was an opportunity get have a short watch before tying up alongside. A productive few minutes gave us a fly-over White-tailed Eagle and some Harbour Seals in their usual spot to the left of the harbour wall, all before breakfast!
After breakfast the telescopes were once again brought into action although not needed to see the large Lion’s Mane Jellyfish wafting its way along the jetty wall.
Around the bay the usual suspects, Gannets, Cormorants, Shags and Kittiwakes were present but the star so far were the numerous Herons scattered about the shoreline and roosting in the trees in the grounds of Lewes Castle. One came to have a closer look at us from the adjacent gantry.
Better was to come at lunchtime in the form of not one but two White-tailed Eagles. The tide had dropped and from The View they could be seen flying around over the water before settling on a now exposed sandbank in the middle of the bay. Distant but just about visible with the naked eye even the super zoom on Chris’s camera was at its limit.
They were much easier to see in the air than on the sandbank, especially when they came closer flying to the ridge beyond the terminal when their huge wingspan became much more apparent. They not known as flying barn doors for nothing!!
Plenty of photos were taken of the Harbour Seals by many guests too.
We met some guests making their way back to Bolette who told us they’d seen a Rabbit, lo and behold not much further on we saw it too. Crossing the bridge over the peat-stained stream we had a look at the pond on the other side. We found out later that had we stood and watched the stream for longer we might have seen Salmon leaping – something for us all to remember if visiting Stornoway August/September time again. The pond was being buffeted by a brisk wind so not really conducive to seeing dragonflies, but a brief interlude of sunshine did bring out a Common Darter.
The woods held an interesting variety of fungi including some brightly coloured Brittle-gill, Russula, species. The epiphytes, vegetation growing on the trees, were spectacular and included this Lungwort Lichen which none of us had seen before. We were discussing the reason for the sheer exuberance of epiphytic life to be seen there being down to the fact there’s no pollution for miles, the prevailing winds come from the Canadian coast of Labrador, not noted for its heavy industry. At that moment we heard a crashing in the undergrowth and a black Spaniel came bounding out onto the path…wouldn’t it have been serendipitous if it had been a Black Labrador! Anyway that wasn’t the most unexpected mammal of our walk and neither was the Rabbit. We certainly didn’t expect to find a Giraffe there; nor a Gruffalo, if that’s a mammal.
Russula sp. © Anno Brandreth / OWE Lugwort Lichen © Dave McGrath / OWE Can you spot the Giraffe? © Dave McGrath/ OWE Gruffalo © Dave McGrath / OWE
Lots to see in the woods and there’s a walk back along the coastal path with lots of views over the bay if anyone is venturing that way on future cruises.
The rest of the afternoon was spent aboard Bolette enjoying the seals and the White-tailed Eagles.
Sail away was at dusk so there was only a short amount of time for a watch before it became too dark. Long enough to see half a dozen unusually acrobatic Common Dolphins just as we exited the bay approaching the open sea.
1st September – At sea in the Hebridean Sea and North Channel
Our final day was a scenic cruise starting off the Small Isles more or less where we had started our first day of scenic cruising. The weather, however, was very different. Cloudy skies and intermittent drizzle, a strong head wind and a very choppy sea greeted us as the dawn broke.
The famous landmarks of Dutchman’s Cap and the neighbouring Isle of Staffa with Fingal’s Cave was our destination for the morning with a slow cruise by offering everyone a chance to get acquainted with these geological ‘oddities’.
We were lucky to be visited by a pod of about 15 Common Dolphins in the area too which entertained the guests at the stern by ‘playing’ in our wake for several minutes giving great views and photo opportunities.
Common Dolphins © Chris Vaghela / OWE Common Dolphins © Chris Vaghela / OWE Common Dolphins © Chris Vaghela / OWE Common Dolphins © Chris Vaghela / OWE
As we headed south sea conditions deteriorated a bit making watching a little uncomfortable and difficult to spot any cetaceans. Sea birds were also thin on the ground. Manx Shearwaters were the most numerous birds about, getting ready for their epic migration to the coasts of Brazil and northern Argentina, a single Sooty Shearwater was seen too. Kittiwakes and Gannets were seen regularly but not in the numbers we may have expected and thinned out the further south we got.
More Puffins were seen today than the rest of the cruise put together but still only just managed double figures, there were probably more but they were difficult to see in the choppy sea and dived out of our way almost immediately after being spotted. But accolade of Bird of the Day had to go to the three Great Shearwaters seen, quite far north for this early in the season on their ‘lap of the Atlantic Ocean’ after finishing their breeding season way down south around Tristan da Cunha. It is one of only a handful of bird species that that migrate from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, most migrate the other way round.
Great Shearwater © Chris Vaghela / OWE Great Shearwater © Chris Vaghela / OWE
The day ended as dusk fell approaching the Isle of Man, we awoke in the morning docked in Liverpool at the end of another excellent cruise in UK waters, shared with enthusiastic guests; thank you for joining us in enjoying the seabirds, whales and dolphins.
Our final cetacean tally is shown below:
SPECIES | COUNT |
Common Dolphin | 250 |
Risso’s Dolphin | 4 |
Harbour Porpoise | 23 |
Minke Whale | 8 |
Fin Whale | 1 |
Bottlenose Dolphin | 7 |
Acknowledgements
The Ocean Wildlife Encounters team would like to thank Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Captain Dubravica and all the crew of MS Bolette for their support and looking after us so well. We would also like to thank the cruise guests who joined us on deck watches, sharing the incredible wildlife and scenery of the UK. Hopefully we’ll see some of you again on forthcoming cruises with Fred. Olsen.
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