Yesterday we had our final scheduled pelagics for 2026 (although, watch this space…). On a breezy day, with a choppy sea once we were more than a mile from land, juvenile Gannets were demonstrating how they’ve not quite got the hang of ganneting just yet…while adults will circle repeatedly and locate prey before diving from height, the juveniles were often flopping into the sea from just a few feet 🙂 Guillemots and Razorbills were rafting, there was a steady passage of Red-throated Divers, dainty Little Gulls were dip-feeding everywhere from St Mary’s Island to Marsden Rock, Arctic, Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas were heading north and ignoring the range of victims available to them over shoals of Herring, and Wigeon, Teal , and Common Scoter passed in flocks.
Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesLittle Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesRed-throated Diver Gavia stellata, North Sea, off South Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesCommon Eider Somateria mollissima, River Tyne, North Shields 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesNorthern Gannet Morus bassanus, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesCommon Guillemot Uria aalge, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImagesNorthern Gannet Morus bassanus, North Sea, Northumberland 25/09/26 (c)NorthernExperienceImages
Only for this year, but our final pelagic of 2026 is this Friday afternoon (September 25th), departing Royal Quays Marina 13:30, and we’ve unexpectedly got two spaces available! First come, first served, and you can book your space by clicking the date on our website calendar 🙂
After a few late withdrawals, due to the alternative evening entertainment from Atlanta, we still managed to sail with a full boat. There had been a sighting of dolphins breaching out near the Tyne Anchorage, and at this time of year that would almost certainly mean White-beaked Dolphins! Heading along the Tyne, under leaden skies, we had an update…”There are dolphins just north of the piers now, I’m sure they’re White-beaks”.
As we left the river and scanned along King Eddie’s Bay and Longsands, there were ten or so White-beaks well dispersed and quietly feeding. One or two had a quick look at us before heading back towards the shore, and we drifted well away from them. We decided to head slowly southwards, and passed the dolphins who were now either side of the mouth of the Tyne. As we picked up speed they started chasing us down and then we had them bow-riding to Souter Lighthouse, where we also had brief views of three Harbour Porpoises 🙂
White-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off Souter, South Tyneside, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesWhite-beaked Dolphin {Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off Souter, South Tyneside, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesWhite-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off Souter, South Tyneside, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
Suddenly, they all vanished. Our final sighting was one animal that had been bow-riding for ten minutes then disappeared with a vertical dive into the inky darkness below, just as someone spotted dolphins close to shore below the lighthouse. I lifted my binoculars and was surprised to see Bottlenose Dolphins heading south! We drifted for a few minutes without any further sign of them, then continued steadily towards Roker, where we were joined by six bow-riding Bottlenose 🙂
Bottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesBottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesBottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesBottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesBottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
They eventually departed when we were off Hendon, and it was time for us to start heading back towards the Tyne. As we approached Marsden Rock another Harbour Porpoise was typically undemonstrative as it slowly surfaced, then the White-beaked Dolphins reappeared 🙂 The group included at least three mother/calf pairs, with one of the calves so small that it was possibly only a few days old! There was more bow-riding, in failing light and a deepening swell, and dolphins were still widely dispersed off South Shields as we made our way through the piers. Other than sailing along the Tyne, there were probably only 20 minutes during the entire evening where we didn’t have dolphins in view!
White-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off South Shields, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesWhite-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off South Shields, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience ImagesWhite-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off South Shields, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
Most of our pelagic trips for the remainder of this year are already full, but we’ve just added some 4hr daytime sailings in September www.newtltd.co.uk/calendar. Bookings went live on Monday and they’re filling quickly, with only September 25th 09:00 having more than three spaces still available, so if you’d like to join us on the final day of Martin’s 30th season organising pelagic trips off the NE coast book soon!
It was another busy summer out on the North Sea, searching for whales, dolphins, porpoises and other marine wildlife. It was an incredibly successful season too, with a substantial majority of our sailings encountering cetaceans 🙂 Here’s a selection of images from early July to late September…
We’ve arranged most of our sailings for 2022, and we’ll be making online booking available from early next week
Wednesday’s 4hr pelagic had a forecast that promised rain, although we only had a few drops, and it took just a few minutes for our first cetacean to appear as a harbour porpoise crossed the mouth of the Tyne in front of us. 90 minutes of intense scanning eventually produced bottlenose dolphins off Whitley Bay and they swam alongside us for an hour as we headed slowly south, finally leaving as we passed the mouth of the river again. On a glassy sea we headed beyond the Tyne and with conditions so perfect I spotted fins that were 2nm ahead of us…and then the white-beaked dolphins appeared 🙂
Friday’s back-to-back 4hr daytime pelagics both started with few dolphins having been reported locally, but a strategy of heading in the general direction where we think they’re likely to be paid off, with a wall of bottlenose dolphin faces charging towards us off Souter Point on our morning sailing, and the same off Collywell Bay in the afternoon 🙂
As we spend so much of our time on, or by, the sea it seemed poetic that as restrictions eased sufficiently to allow us to start running tours again, our first trip was a pelagic. The North Sea was at its ever-shifting best; lumpy swell and whitecaps eventually giving way to oily-smooth water reflecting the colours of the setting sun 🙂
Our final 4hr daytime pelagics for 2020 were very contrasting. Our morning sailing was a great few hours offshore but didn’t produce any cetacean sightings so in the hour between sailings, I suggested to Allan that we should just head straight out in the afternoon…and just at the point where we were about to turn and head back to shore, there were the White-beaked Dolphins 🙂
Wednesday’s 10hr Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic sailed with the intention of heading out to the furthest reaches of the Farne Deeps but just over 2hrs in, Mark and Martin looked at the weather and decided that it wouldn’t be safe to head as far offshore as planned. Checking the forecast for the rest of the day, and the bathymetric chart, a new course was set…and there were the White-beaked dolphins 🙂 52 minutes of mayhem later they departed as suddenly and mysteriously as they’d arrived, leaving behind a boat filled with grinning clients and memory cards filled with images and video 🙂
Saturday was our first 10hr pelagic, after August 5th had weather that wasn’t great. White-beaked Dolphin put in an appearance early in the day, a Minke Whale was well to the ENE of Alnmouth and Harbour Porpoise were regular throughout the day. Amongst mist and rain we had some sublime conditions, extraordinary light and incredibly smooth water…
