Down, up, around and back - Part 3

The Safari arrived in Lerwick harbour and watched the deckhands getting the tenders ready for the shore excursions, this time we weren't berthed at a quayside but anchored some way off shore. With plenty of official excursions for the guests it was going to be some time before we'd get the chance to get ashore as 'just' a foot passenger. It did give us time to scan the surroundings for whatever might be about which would hopefully include an Otter or two seeing as how Shetland is very much a hotspot for them.

Eventually we got ashore and the whole OWE team decided on a wander up to Clickimin Loch with its Iron Age broch on the shoreline. As we approached the loch the large Tesco supermarket lured us in while the others went on ahead. Bad move on our part as they had a male Hen Harrier cruise along the fellside beyond the lake. At the broch the Starlings were magnificently irridescent in the sunshine.

Others picked through the tufty Lichens gowing on the ancient walls

The structure was immense and impressive, especially the stonework - although it has been rebuilt in the not too distant past.

The lough gave us good views of Common Terns coming and going with small number of Arctic Terns too. Redshank and Common Sandpiper were seen and a Greenshank heard. Our circumnavigation of the lough gave us Willow Warbler, Great Tit and Chiffchaff in the gardens and recently planted wooded areas along with plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks on the open hillside above. While scanning for the return of the Hen Harrier we noticed something odd about the dry stone wallrunning along the ridge; we're attracted to all things dry stone wall but don't ask us to build one, we'll be at it for ever and then it'll probably fall down. This one was unusual in that the stones in much of it had been laid vertically with just a couple, of presumed repaired, short stretches having horizontal courses.

Getting hungry we headed back into town aand the harbour area where Common Terns rather than gulls were on the look out for chips!

While waiting for our tender ride back to Borealis and its more than copious amounts of good grub

we watched a Black Guillemot fishing close to the jetty

After yet another substantial lunch we chilled out on the outdoor lounge area at the stern of the ship enjoying the view and having a good old chin wag with some of the guests.

Being of Viking/Norse heritage (and currently incapaciated due to one of their bad genes)

it was good to see a replica Longship being moored up in the harbour.

Our search for Otters was unsuccessful but there were two Great Northern Divers and a single Black Throated Diver in the harbour area. A Snow Goose may or may not have been a genuine wild bird but either way its gone on our year list. 

As we sailed out of Lerwick for an evening cruise past Sumburgh Head one thing we hadn't expected to get in Shetland was sunburnt! What a cracking day it had been but we could feel where our arms and cheekbones had caught the sun.

Guests who had been on the coach excursion to Sumburgh Head told us they'd seen five Risso's Dolphins so as we headed south all eyes were well and truly peeled. Sadly they'd disappeared, in fact so had all other marine mammals, for such a productive patch of coastline we'd have expected to have seen some blubber before bedtime. The best we could muster between the Gannets, Guillemots and Kittiwakes was a Great Skua.

The next morning MK did the guest commentary for the scenic cruise by Troup Head on the NE corner of Aberdeenshire, an RSPB reserve home to Scotland's largest mainland Gannet colony.

From the ship the Gannets made the cliff face look like it was covered in snow. Some of them were diving for fish but too far for pics  others were collecting seaweed for their nests.

and as usual it was difficult to get some guests onto the Puffins that were sat on the water or flying past.
By this stage of the trip most guests who wanted to see Puffins, and my are they popular!, had done so and some who'd been on shore excursions had seen them by their burrows but there were still a few folks who'd not yet connected. But why did it prove so difficult to get folk onto them? We've come to the conclusion that several factors are at play...a) many folk don't realise how small they are, only like two tennis balls stuck together, we get the impression they expect something the size of an Emperor Penguin b) when looking down from the ship on them they are really really small and the colourful bill hard to see unless the light is good, even from Deck 3 they're going to be at least 100 feet way and from Deck 6 twice that and more, c) in flight they're fast little suckers and that combined with d) generally poor quality bins and e) inexperience of using said bins means folk don't get onto them when we point them out. Their excitement is infectious when folk do see one for their first time though
 

From Troup Head we sailed SE out into the North Sea. after a while our radio crackled and so did SB's - "what was that message?" we asked, SB asked us the same - nothing, so we put it down to atmospheric activity perhaps related to the recent sunspots. We tried to confirm if it was a radio message fro IH or MK but got no response...atmospheric interference it was then. But it wasn't - a loud shout of “dolphins!”, when we were somewhere NE of Fraserburgh, alerted guests and MK, at the rear of Deck 3, to the presence of a small group of Orca, probably five or six of them passing behind the ship, then a few tail slaps later they vanished into the mist.  A couple of the guests managed to get reasonable photos and we were incredibly grateful that they shared them to use in the OWE blog...and we've nicked for here...hope Norman and Nigel don't mind.

Once they'd gone a very excited MK came round to our watch position to tell us what we'd missed...the third of our Bucket List...dohhhhhh if only we'd been watching from the (uncomfortably breezy) other side of the ship, even then we may not have seen them although would have got the radio message...on inherent weakness of our kit - the radios don't work diagonally through all the steelwork of the ship. Investigations by OWE colleagues back home revealed them to be part of a pod that's been in that area of the North Sea for a few weeks.

The rest of the day was breezy with a choppy sea, but hundreds of Guillemots and Kittiwakes kept our attention focused firmly on the sea while a Woodpigeon and a Swallow joined us for the ride.
When day broke on our final sea day we were well E of Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast so no  surprises that Gannets and Kittiwakes  Bempton Cliffs RSPB reservewere the majority of the birds seen in the first few hours. We did an ‘Introduction to the Identification of North Atlantic Gulls’ talk in the theatrebut outside there was a different wildlife focus on Deck 3 with moths and hoverflies being attracted to the ship as they migrated across the North Sea, many people don't realise that huge insect migrations go on largely unseen except in unusual circumstances like these today. There were hundreds of these small Dipteran flies

a couple of Silver Y moths

and an Angle Shades moth who's dead leaf camouflage was worse than useless on the brilliant white paint of the ship's superstructure.

Hoverflies were represented by several Drone Flies, Eristalis pertinax, a couple of Marmalade Hoverflies, and this one on IH's cap we at first thought was a Marmalade Hoverfly but on downloading the pic back at Base Camp is obviously something else.

As expected travelling closer too land past the Essex coast down to the Straits of Dover proved to be productive with over half a dozen Harbour Seals being spotted and six Harbour Porpoises, kept company by flocks of Kittiwakes, Guillemots and by Gannets. A great end to a fabulous week - early the following morning we would be back on dry land saying fond farewells to SB and MK, we're sure our paths will cross again before too long, and be heading up the motorway back to Base Camp for a well earned rest.

Where to next? Due to our current debilitated condition our safaris will have to be no further than the back garden.

In the meantime let us know who's making a splash in your outback.

Down, up, around and back - Part 2

The Safari has been to Belfast before and knew there were Harbour Seals to be found in the lough. We found a handful of distant animals hauled out on the low tide rocks but it wasn't until after breakfast while we were chatting on the phone to Wifey back at Base Camp that one came near enough for a pic.

The harbour area also held numbers of Black Guillemots, several commuting between the wide mouth of the lough and the inner dockland area. A couple even perched up on the stern of the ferry docked opposite us.

After breakfast we went ashore and left the rest of the team to do whatever they had planned. We walked the few hundred yards to the RSPB's 'Window on Wildlife' reserve. We arrived before opening time and had a pleasant wait in glorious sunshine watching bees, hoverflies and a few butterflies buzzing around the flowers of the pollinators area at the entrance. After a few minutes the doors were opened and a very helpful young lady told us what had been seen recently and gave us a telescope to use, very handy seeing as how the lake we were viewing was quite large.

A Common Sandpiper appeared just inches in front of the huge viewing window but didn't stick around for a pic. The next nearest bird was this female Tufted Duck sat chiiling out in the warm morning sunshine. Now we always promise ourselves not to take anymore pics of Tufted Ducks cos we've got at least half a dozen more than plenty but as this one was doing something a little out of the ordinary - sitting still on dry land - we fired a few shots off.

The young warden had mentioned there was a nesting pair of Mediterranean Gulls on site but that last year they had five pairs, this pair being the only ones to have survived a severe outbreak of Avian Flu. After filling our SD card with sitting duck pics it took us 0.00001 of a second to find the Mediterranean Gulls among the throngs of Black Headed Gulls on the nesting rafts. Can't believe it took us that long to sniff em out, musta been because we were behind a thick plate glass window!

Out on the water there were several Little Grebes, mostly refusing to come close until one did venture just about in range.

Meanwhile a Moorhen walked the shoreline behind the still snoozing Tufted Duck.

Positioned out in the water were several posts and 'goal posts' for the gulls and terns to loaf on. At this time all the terns were Common Terns, news from the other birders who had now joined us that the Arctic Terns were very late this year with only one being recorded so far.

The window wasn't the best when taking pics at an angle but not too bad when looking square on, as when the Moorhen walked back.

Eventually one of the Little Grebes did come much closer.

Over in the far corner there was a mixed flock of Black and Bar Tailed Godwits many sporting their brick red breeding plumage. The others birders suggested we get the door code for the little hide over that way from the wardens and go round to get a closer look. It was only a five minute walk down the road then along a wooded fringe where we heard Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing as saw a family of recently feldged Long Tailed Tits. From the hide we did get closer views of the godwits but they still weren't in a good place for pics. A couple of Whimbrel were with them and we heard a Curlew too. Here the loafing posts were much closer and not through glass and although against the light at this time of day offered much better views of the Common Terns.

From the hide the path continued down to the edgse of the lough where we met a couple of guys with cameras we thought were more birders but were actually waiting for a huge bulk carrier, the Atlantic Sakura, to be tug-boated into its dock.

The tug at the back must have powerful engines as it was acting as a brake to slow the ship down.

While watching the ship shenanigans a Black Guillemot sailed past nice and close. We were getting hungry by now and with no cafe at this reserve we gave our thanks to the wardens and birders for all the info and banter, what a friendly and informative bunch, if you're ever in Belfast 'WOW' is well worth a visit, and set off on the walk back to the copious amounts of grub only a cruise ship can offer.

For our sailaway there was stiff breeze giving challenging viewing conditions in the outer lough until we rounded the headland and  headed northwards into the North Channel. Just outside the mouth of the harbour there was a small flock of Eiders A few Shags were further out on the choppy water.

As the evening progressed the sea became weirdly glassy calm and we came across groups of Kittiwake, Razorbill, Guillemot and Fulmar. Small flocks of Gannets cruised by probably on their way to the nearby colony on the tiny island of Ailsa Craig, famed for its granite curling stones. As dusk fell the conditions looked absolutely mint for a Storm Petrel or two but sadly none were found.

The day’s mammal list finished on 7 Common Seals, a single Grey Seal, a couple of unidentified dolphins and a  Harbour Porpoise.

 
Cruising up The Minch in darkness wasn't ideal for us wildlife watchers as this is where we would expect to find good numbers of marine mammals and maybe a Basking Shark or two too. Luckily for us the was some daylight before we arrived at our next port, the tiny Hebridean town of Stornoway. 45 Common Dolphins were seen in several pods, unfortunately all too distant for pics, and two of the guests let us know they'd seen four White-beaked Dolphins.   As we approached the brand spanking new Port of Stornoway cruise terminal, so new it's nowhere near finished yet we had Black Throated, Red Throated and Great Northern Divers along with a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers. 

Once docked we took the shuttle bus into town where House Sparrows and Starlings were seen. There's a very nice whisky shop where we could have all too easily maxed out our credit card but managed to resist the temptation. A bric-a-brak shop came up trumps with an early Slade vinyl LP for our collection but we couln't find a pub with decent beer in which to watch a footy match IH had been looking forward to so it was back to the ship. Later some guests that had been on one of the excursions told us they'd had a Golden Eagle pointed out to them by their guide - lucky devils! The nearest we got to eagle excitement was a Heron flying across a hillside from the shuttle bus into town.  

With The Minch being a cetacean hotspot we had plenty of eager guests out on deck as we left Stornoway heading for the topmost corner of the Scottish mainland, Cape Wrath.

Lady luck wasn't with us and we somewhat disappointingly saw not a lot, the highlight probably being this group of Harbour Seals by the ship's berth.

The usual seabirds included a bathing Guillemot - why does a bird that spends half its life under the waves need to bathe???

Also passing by were a Whimbrel a flock of tundra bound Sanderlings and a couple of Arctic Skuas. Over the mainland we watched the formation of some lenticular clouds. The last time we witnessed these at sea some very severe weather followed, would it be repeated?

We'll see...
Around the time our voyage began the sun had given of several coronal mass ejections directed towards earth and it was looking like five of them had merged so were likely to generate an impressive display of the Aurora Borealis which just happened to be on the same night as a star gazing event aboard ship and many of the guests' phones were pinging aurora alerts from their Apps.  The team spent the late evening in enjoying Howard’s fabulously entertaining and somewhat tongue-in-cheek tribute to Freddie Mercury while every so often heading outside to check how dark the sky was.  As the first stars began to appear we were discussing astronomy and stargazing with guests who were still out on deck, then when we looked out again just before midnight the aurora was visible to the naked eye, directly over the ship! We were thrilled even though it 'only' appeared as a sinously moving grey swirl and not the spectacular colours you see on the telly. The colours would be revealed when we set our phone to 'night mode' and pointed it skywards. After a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, and too many other idioms to list, experience we eventually headed to our cabins in the early hours of Saturday morning as it began to fade. Bucket list Basking Shark missed, bucket list Aurora Borealis a massive hit!

So as not lose as little daylight as possible on the way up to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles we were out on deck after barely five hour's sleep, and we weren't the first out there a few guests had already been out for an hour or so! The highlight was a Minke Whale, after seeing so many on the first morning we had expected to have seen more by now but it could be that we had got ahead of them as they migrate northwards. A couple of Fulmars took advantage of the ship slipstreaming us for several miles.

Most odd were a couple of Razorbills that decided floating with the current wasn't for them so let a plank do all the hard work.

And so on to Lerwick we steamed over a mostly quiet sea, where were all the cetaceans??? And most especially where's the 'big one', third of our bucket list - Orca.

Where to next? Ashore in Lerwick and the down the North Sea.

In the meantime let us know who's walking the plank in your outback.