Sightings Blog

After a busy week that has felt like a second summer, we had one Ocean Discovery this morning. We started by visiting the seals, who were bobbing around the island. Wanting to make the most of the flat calm seas, we headed south. Before long, we were picking up porpoises spread out around us. After…

They day started slowly before turning in to a 4 cetacean species day. In the morning we had lovely views of harour porpoises before heading out and finding some tricky common dolphins. There were lots of gannets and kittiwakes feeding offshore.On the way in we stopped to see some grey seals on the island. In…

We set off in the autumnal sunshine on this morning’s Ocean Discovery with a light south-easterly wind, which meant we had a perfect angle for sailing south west. We picked up multiple gannet groups diving and decided to go to the closest feeding event. There was was a small pod juvenile common dolphins feeding alongside…

Morning Ocean Discovery: We enjoyed some lovely views of harbour porpoises surfacing close to the boat, offering everyone a great look at these elusive animals. We spotted plenty of feeding seabirds and several grey seals hauled out and in the water around the island. Afternoon Discovery Voyage: Harbour porpoises made another appearance, and we were…

We had another lovely day today. Bright sunshine and calm seas allowed us to search offshore. In the morning we found lots of different groups of harbour porpoises and had some lovely interactions in the calm conditions. We also saw a variety of seabirds including many arctic skuas, who were harassing kittiwakes for their catch….

  We had the luxury of a glassy calm morning today. The calm conditions allowed us to spot multiple groups of common dolphins and harbour porpoises. We also saw a huge variety of seabirds including some more unusual sights: sooty shearwaters, great shearwaters, Balearic shearwaters and grey phallaropes. There were lots of grey seals on…

Dry and sunny today – a very welcome development. We had a three hour trip but sailed so far south west it turned into four hours! There was plenty of wildlife to be seen including large numbers of common dolphins and harbour porpoises (which were too quick to get photos of!) and sixteen seals hauled…

There is a limit to what weather forecasting models can do and today proved this nicely. Instead of a light northwesterly wind and light showers (which is still what we were being told yesterday evening), we had a stronger onshore wind, fog and intermittent heavy rain. This improved a little, but it was all much…

Though grey and choppy, conditions were far better than expected today and we had a great couple of trips. This morning there were eight seals hauled out – it’s been a popular spot for them there lately. We then headed a long way south and found two groups of common dolphins feeding with just a…

After the strong wind of the last two days (more strong wind) we were back out today and conditions were surprisingly benign. This morning we saw several grey seals round the island and a couple of groups of harbour porpoises, but on the whole it was rather quiet. This afternoon we tried a different route…

Conditions today were similar to yesterday’s, though with no rain and slightly less swell. This morning on our three hour trip we saw plenty of grey seals and seabirds including a sooty and Cory’s shearwater. We also found some common dolphins and had some clear (though brief!) views of harbour porpoises. There are a lot…

This weather 😱! There was a bit of a window this morning so we headed out, undecided about whether it would be two or three hours. We sailed southwards into increasing swell, looking for fins among the waves and the birds. One lady saw a tuna breach, but the rest of us were all the…