Change of Plans

It feels like ages since I blogged so I thought I would pull my finger out and get one posted.

Its all gone quite at the Farnes now and even all the Kittiwakes are leaving, but at this time of the year you get to see the Fulmars in all their glory as they use the boat like a spitfire airplane would
have done in the war.
They appear from know where and the next minute they are right beside the boat. In the past they have given a few of our guests a shock as they are so close to them.
They are very impressive the way they turn right at the last minute and then do a full circle around the boat and back again.
They must be enjoying themselves as you can see a little sparkle in their eyes as they guide past the boat, as if to say, "you will never catch me".

I do like these seabirds and when there is hardly any other birds around, it gives you a good chance to see how graceful they are, and it not until then do you really appreciate the elegance of this wonderful seabird.

On Wednesday 9th, we decided to have a little change. We only had a few people on the landing trip and when they were on the boat we asked them if they fancied seeing some Minke Whales. They all looked at each other and said "Why not", so of we went out into the big blue.
A friend gave me a tip off so it was a good chance we might hit lucky. After about half an hours steam we can accross Gannets diving and sure enough a minke popped up right in front of us.
Two minutes later another surfaced and boy this was a big one. It must have been about 30ft which is the biggest a minke gets.
They both surfaced three times and then dived. It was a good few minutes before they surfaced again and they were really close to the boat by this time.  I still get a buzz seeing these wonderful mammals and to get two beside each other is great.
I was also talking to another friend and he said that his pots are full of herring eggs, which is another great sign. Minke whales love herring and so do alot of seabirds as we spotted 2 Sooty Shearwaters feeding, a few Arctic Skua's and lots of Gannets.

After a good show we headed back towards to Farnes were we saw at least 3000 Gannets diving. They were not bothered about the boat at all, as they were more intrested in filling their bellies. Once again another great sight.

I was buzzing, my crewman Andy was buzzing and I could tell our guests were too by the smiles on their faces. Over all a great trip and I was so pleased they said yes to going.

40+ White Beaked Dolphins

Continued from the Not 1 but 5 Minke Whale blog...

We headed a little further out after seeing the last Minke and  we passed 2 Sooty Shearwaters a few more Manx Shearwaters and then nothing. We only saw a few passing Gannets but that was it, until we had 2 White Beaked Dolphins arrive from nowhere. They played with the bow of the boat for 2 minutes but then disappeared.

We looked around a bit more and we were just about to give up and go home when in the distance we saw few Gannets starting to dive and then we saw a few Dolphins jump clean out of the water.

As we looked more and more turned up. There was a least 40+ heading straight for us.

They seemed to be really excited to see us, as they  ignore the fish the Gannets were diving for. At first we were not moving and they seemed to get bored straight away but the second I started to move the boat that's when they got excited and started to entertain us.

This is one hell of a sight and it gives you is real buzz inside.

To be so close to this was just amazing and for them to put a real show on for us made it even more spacial.

I was excited, the guests were excited and even Bud my trusty Collie was excited to as you can hear him.

Over all this was by far the best trip this year so enjoy the pictures and some video footage. 

   

Not 1 but 5 Minke's

We popped out the other day to try and find some Minke Whales and boy did we.

We had not been long out of the harbour when we encountered a very large Minke right beside the boat. As we followed it along another pop up on the other side of the boat. At first we thought it was the same one but then they both came up together each side of the boat. One was much larger than the other then 2 minutes later another surfaced a bit of to the left of the boat. The guests said that's 3 Minke Whales but then another shouted "No it's not, it's 4 as we have one behind us".

Umberliveable...... 1 Minke is great but to have 4 at the same time all round the boat was just like winning the lottery, well not quit but i was just stunning.

We followed them for about half an hour until they disappeared.

In all that excitement we also had 1 Sooty Shearwater flying north and 17 Manx Shearwaters feeding with other birds.

We turned and headed a little further out passing Manx after Manx and in total at the end of the trip we has seen 53 and we would had definitely missed more.

A little further out we can across yet another Minke but this time it went straight down never to be seen again.

Here are some pictures I manged to get but that was not the end of the trip as I have more to come in a later blog.

 

Whale of a time

I left the harbour a couple of weeks ago and noticed a Minki Whale just outside the harbour entrance. This was a small Minki, about a 1 year old I think as it was very curious and came right up to the boat and even nudging the side of the hull. After looking at me for a few moments it turned and headed out to sea.

I never seen it again but I did get a few pictures to be very happy with.

Even though it looks like just water, you can still the the outline of the Minki underneath the water. 

Minki Whale

The season has been good so far for all the seabirds with some great surprises. A Blue Fulmar passed Staple Island, the arrival of the Bridled Tern was and still is amazing, and just when we thought it could not be beat, I received a text from a friend to say that he had just seen a Fea's Petrel at Beadnell Point and then 5 mins later one of the Rangers saw it fly past Staple Island.
The most incredible part about it was that this was in thick fog and Gary even managed to get a picture. Now this is a mega mega bird so my hat has to go of to Gary for seeing it, never mind getting a picture of this wonderful bird.

Well done Gary.
www.beadnell-birder.blogspot.co.uk

July has just been stunning with flat calm seas, clear skies and very warm, but it's been the amount of sightings of Mini Whales that has amazed me. They have been spotted on a daily bases by myself, fisherman and other people, which is great news. The mackerel has been plentiful during July also, so this is another good reason for the Minki's being around, as it's their favourate food. 

We decided to trip a Whale trip but the first one was a bit of a flop as we did not see any, but I was not going to give up yet and the next day I came out of the harbour and I spotted one only 200 yards from the harbour entrance.

I quickly stopped the boat and it came right along side of the boat before going under it. I clicked away taking as many pictures as I could.

The underwater visibility is great at the moment as it's about 10 meters so I could see the white on it flipper, so I just kept on clicking away. Again it went around the boat as if it was checking me out.

They are just beautiful mammals and a delight to have around our waters, so I decided to try another trip to see if we could hit the jackpot.

Things were not looking to good as the fog had dropped in and after 2.5 hours of searching we did not see a thing. We were just about to give up hope when a Minki broke the surface. We watched the Minki for about 15 minutes before we lost it in the fog.

The guests were so pleased and so was I.

Never mind, here are some pictures of the Minki Whale on both occasions.

During the Fog. (Below)

The Mighty Gannet

I could not help myself today and I decided to go out again to see all the birds.

With a handful of guests and a friend to join me we went out in search of the rare bird or a Minkie Whale.

On the way out we could see thousands of Gannets in the sky so it was not hard to guess where we were going. With calm sea's and blue skies it was not hard to enjoy every moment of this trip.

The Gannets stole the show today and their was not as many Sooty Shearwaters today as there were yesterday and all I can put that down to is the wind. Never mind we still got Bonxie's, Artic Skua's, Fulmers, Gulliemots and lots of Seals.

I think the pictures will tell the rest of the story.