T2623 Scenic Coastlines of the British Isles
Our team, comprising of Dave McGrath, Brian Tollitt, Laura Dennis and Jeff Clarke joined the Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines MV Bolette in Liverpool on the 12th September 2026. Our planned itinerary was a cracker, taking in the West Coast of Ireland, The Minch and Orkney. As we boarded, Windy.com gave us pause for thought. As it turned out, the weather had a different itinerary in mind.
It was plain sailing initially. Our first Ports of Call were to be Portland, Dorset, followed by the Isles of Scilly, to get there we would transit the Celtic Sea (unbeknown to us, at the time, it would be the first of four such transits). As we departed Liverpool, we were escorted out of the Mersey Estuary and into Liverpool Bay by many Sandwich and Common Terns, a few Little Gulls as well as many of their larger cousins. Before sunset we were already connecting with our first truly pelagic birds. We were also encountering our first blubbery beings, in the form of Atlantic Grey Seals hauling out on the newly exposed mudbanks, and a trio of Harbour Porpoises passed close by on the port side.
Headwinds meant that for most of this cruise we conducted wildlife watches from the Promenade Deck, the disadvantage is that you have a limited forward view, but the bonus is that you connect with many passengers who would otherwise not naturally join us, and our first full sea day would give any passenger who truly wanted to see a dolphin, every opportunity to do so.
The Common Dolphin, one of the world’s most beautiful cetaceans, was the undoubted star of the show. As we navigated the St. Georges Channel and the Celtic Sea, pod after pod porpoised into Bolette’s bow, then, as animals peeled away, they would play in the wash along the sides before a final flourish at the stern, leaping playfully in Bolette’s wake. We would record this species on eight of the cruise days, making it comfortably the most abundant cetacean recorded. A minimum total of 576 also included a rare melanic form of the Common Dolphin.
We also recorded pseudo-dolphins, careful observation confirmed their tails were aligned perpendicular to the body and not horizontally, this was the giveaway that we were looking at Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. These fish are extraordinary, and can exceed 30 years of age, many of the ones we witnessed were larger than the Common Dolphins, they are rocket-fast through the water and would often explode from the surface, as they chased and corralled a baitball of herring-like fish. This creates such a turmoil in the water that it is often referred to as a ‘tuna boil’.
Portland Harbour was a bit limited in terms of photographable wildlife, though we were taken by surprise when a Common Bottlenose Dolphin pooped up at the stern of the moored Bolette. Unfortunately it decided sink without trace just before we slipped our ropes.
Our conversations with passengers indicated that our second ‘port’, the Isles of Scilly, was their favourite destination. This beautiful archipelago, situated 28 miles south-west of Land’s End, feels like a place from another time. We were blessed with lovely weather that day.
It was only shortly before sail-away that news filtered through of how the gathering storms off the west coast of Ireland would upend our cruise plans. This resulted in a monumental effort by the Navigation Crew aboard Bolette and the excursions teams on-ship and ashore, finding alternative ports of call to replace those lost to the weather.
Our cruise coincided with a period of peak bird migration. On sea-days, early risers would often be treated to a variety of small passerine birds, flitting about, on the outer decks, the back of Deck 8 being particularly favoured, the list included warblers, notably Chiffchaff and Blackcap, alongside Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit and also a champion passerine migrant in the form of Northern Wheatear.
Of course, the seabirds were a primary focus. From a passenger perspective the Northern Gannet was not only the most easily observed, but also the most exhilarating to watch, as they pummelled into the ocean like speeding bullets in pursuit of pelagic fish such as mackerel and herring. It was an opportunity to show passengers the ever-changing plumage progression they go through from juvenile to adult.
Auks, alongside the gannets, were the seabirds we encountered most frequently. The Common Guillemot was the dominant species. The high pitched calls of this years young were a regular soundscape as we cruised along. Often passing close to the sides of Bolette to give passengers a view of two birds together, a begging chick and its doting father and expert fish provider.
There were smaller numbers of Razorbills and only a handful of Atlantic Puffins, most had dispersed far out to sea.
For the keen birdwatchers on board, the various petrels and shearwaters are of particular interest. Cruising gives an opportunity to see these birds at their best, careening over a windswept ocean, wingtips grazing the surface and skipping over frothing whitecaps. As anticipated the home-grown Manx Shearwater was the most abundant. Their topside is almost black and can be devilishly difficult to pick out against a dark, disrupted sea, thankfully the ‘Daz-white’ underside perodically shines like a beacon, as they arc through the wave crests and troughs.
On this cruise we also encountered a few of their close relatives. Balearic, Cory’s and Sooty Shearwaters were in rather short supply, but we were able to show a good number of passengers the Great Shearwater in the Western Approaches.
In general, Northern Fulmars were rather scarce during this cruise, but their ability to find food through their exquisite sense of smell meant that the largest concentrations were seen around fishing vessels, at least a hundred were observed loafing in close proximity to a trawler in the Celtic Sea.
Storm-Petrels were also thin-on-the-ground, but we did manage to see three different species, European Storm-Petrel was the commonest, and Wilson’s Storm-Petrel was the rarest, with just two individuals recorded. We also found a handful of Leach’s Storm Petrels, ironically the blustery weather had gathered large numbers of this species in Liverpool Bay, pushing hundreds close to the coast, so that land-based birders were getting rather better views than those of us out at sea.
Belfast Harbour was not on our original itinerary, but it’s sheltered position was the replacement for the weather-battered Killybegs. The two have something in common though, gulls, lots of them.
Perhaps of more interest to the passengers were the Harbour Seals, that are easily observed here, a few young pups could be seen from Bolette’s moored position. On land they are clumsy and often assume a ‘banana’ shaped resting pose, conversely, in the water they are sleek and agile. They would pop-up periodically very close to the ship, giving excellent views, to those who had remained on board, or returned early from excursions.
The harbour is also a popular location with members of the cormorant family. Both Great Cormorants and European Shags were sat on the marker bouys, with birds of both species making regular flybys past Bolette
The sail-away here takes you out past the RSPB Window on Wildlife Reserve. From Deck 6 we were able to show the passengers many of the wading birds gathered there, including Eurasian Curlew, Lapwings, Dunlin and a squadron of Black-tailed Godwits that powered directly overhead like a military send-off.
Sea ducks rarely stick around as a large ship approaches, so it was a surprise when this dapper drake Common Eider elected to ride it out as we bore down on him, seemingly unpeturbed. It gave those pasengers with us a splendid view.
Just as we cleared the harbour we also connected with a skua, it was a bit distant, but it's slim profile, slender wings and rather relaxed wingbeats suggested something other than the expected Arctic Skua. Sure enough, on double checking our images we, confirmed it was a Long-tailed Skua, though being a juvenile it lacks this distinctive feature.
The furthest north we managed to get was Tobermory in Mull. It’s a beautiful place even on a day that turned progressively wet and murky.
Common Bottlenose Dolphins escorted the tenders, a White-tailed Eagle flew over Bolette and some lucky passengers even encountered an otter on one of their water-bound wildlife excursions.
After leaving Tobermory we indulged in some scenic cruising in what was best decribed as dismal weather. Thankfully by morning things had improved. Was that the Sun uplighting the clouds pre-sunrise?
As we approached Ailsa Craig the clouds parted for a spectacular view of the World's largest curling stone and thankfuly still busy gannetry.
As we left Ailsa Craig in our wake, the light was still good enough for passengers to spot the many Manx Shearwaters whipping past Bolette's bow, even the ones dark side up!
Having cleared the North Channel, we re-entered the Irish Sea with a varied array of gulls for company. Kittiwakes were prevelant, we also had Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls slipstreaming in our wake.
Cobh, in south-east Ireland was not on our initial playlist, but it became a ‘port-in-a-storm’ as the west coast of Ireland and Northern Scotland continued to be battered by a succession of storms and gales. It may have been a substitute but in many ways it was a super-sub. A very beautiful place.
The impressive St. Colmans' Cathederal visually dominates the town and this high vantage point is the perfect place to look for a Peregrine Falcon. This supreme raptor is mustard at catching birds in flight and thankfully was visible from the ship. Brian later captured the male (tiercel) on the ramparts where he'd cached a recent prey item.
Gulls are ever-present in most ports in north-west Europe but Cobh seemed to hold a particular attraction for the rather lovely Mediterranean Gull. A 2nd winter bird spent some time close to the moored Bolette, giving passengers a splendid view.
By mid-September the nights are “fair drawing in”, so most of our sail-aways from port were truncated by early sunsets, nevertheless they would often provide some of our most enjoyable highlights from the trip, probably the best was as we left Cobh. Common Dolphins put on a fine display, but so too did a scattered pod of Common Bottlenose Dolphins, shortly after exiting the harbour. Thankfully we were able to access Deck 6 for this and a good number of passengers got stellar views of these exceptionally intelligent cetaceans.
For our final transit of the Celtic Sea, the wind had abated, to a gentle breeze. It had started to go misty as darkenss fell after leaving Cobh, just the conditions when birds might be attracted to the ship. Body clocks were set for a very early start. Our instincts were correct, we had a stowaway. A reward in the form of a Great Shearwater, one of the world's greatest seabird migrants was discovered by one of the OWE Team, on the back of Deck 6, during a search in the wee hours after leaving Cobh. It was quickly repatriated to the sea to continue its travels.
We finally had a whole day where we could watch from Deck 6 Forward, just to make things a bit tricky, much of the morning Wildlife Watch was conducted in fog banks of varying density. The Common Dolphins put on a final thrilling display but had petered out by lunchtime.
We were just wondering what the best bird of the day would be when something fluttered across the bow of Bolette and settled into some equipment on the Forecastle. That something wasn’t a bird, but a very large and very scarce, in a UK context, Convolvulus Hawkmoth. Once access was allowed on the Forecastle the OWE Team located the moth and over the course of the afternoon, we were able to show this incredible creature to dozens of passengers, so the best bird of the final day turned out to be an insect. A fitting end to a most unpredictable yet highly enjoyable cruise.
As usual OWE would like to thank all the crew of the MV Bolette and also Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines for giving Ocean Wildlife Encounters the opportunity to support this cruise and show such a wonderful array of wildlife to so many interested and delightful passengers. We look forward to seeing you again on a future cruise.
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