Northern Experience Wildlife Tours

Tag: Bottlenose Dolphin

  • White-beak season; 4hr evening pelagic 15/07/26

    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 Images
    White-beaked Dolphin {Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off Souter, South Tyneside, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
    White-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 Images
    Bottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
    Bottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
    Bottlenose Dolphin [Tursiops truncatus], off Roker, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
    Bottlenose 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 Images
    White-beaked Dolphin [Lagenorhynchus albirostris], off South Shields, 15/07/26 (c)Northern Experience Images
    White-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!

  • NEWT’s 2020 (pelagic) vision

    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

  • Triple crown; NEWT’s North Sea pelagic 07/07/21

    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 🙂

  • Here come the dolphins; NEWT’s 4hr North Sea Pelagics 02/07/21

    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 🙂

  • Forecasting; NEWT’s 4hr North Sea pelagic 02/06/21

    Yesterday’s 4hr evening pelagic looked in doubt a few days ago, with stiff easterlies and 1.5m waves in the forecast. As the day approached, the forecast was looking much more promising, so I left the office under clear blue skies and bright sunshine for the 25min drive to the marina. Half way there and Jo ‘phoned “There’s a thick fret rolling in”, and by the time I reached the marina it was murky, overcast, and a chilly southeasterly breeze had everyone checking that they’d packed hats, gloves and spare layers…

    NECP surveyors braving the cold were watching bottlenose dolphins in the mouths of the Tyne and the Wear as we sailed from the marina but, as we reached the fish quay, the dolphins in the Tyne had headed south, other than two briefly seen fins between the starboard navigation markers. South was the obvious direction for us too, and in increasing swell we passed Marsden Rock as kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills, guillemots and gannets flew by. Jo spotted a small group of dolphins and we lowered our speed and changed course to avoid heading straight for them. We were on course to pass a few hundred metres to the side of them, but the dolphins had other ideas…

    A few of this year’s sailings are fully booked already but there are some with spaces still available. Have a look at our pelagics page to see which sailings are available and get in touch to book your place and join in the fun 🙂

  • Light on the water; Bespoke Photography 10/09/2020

    Yesterday was a trip we were really looking forward to after what has been a really challenging year in so many ways. Emma and Janine have been on a couple of photography holidays that I’ve led since late 2018 and yesterday’s trip was organised for Janine’s birthday. Water and wildlife were the specific requests so I’d discussed how to structure the full day with Sarah and we thought we’d got a workable plan…

    We started with wildlife; Dunlin, Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Turnstone all exploiting the rich food supply available on freshly uncovered sand and seaweed as the tide fell. Low-angled sunlight and mirror-calm water were everything we could have wished for and after a morning of wading birds we headed off for an excellent lunch, and outstanding views from our window table, at the Jolly Fisherman.

    Post-lunch we stretched our legs and walked towards Dunstanburgh Castle as the tide turned and surf started breaking over the rocks in the foreground while we sat close to the rising water. Juvenile Gannets were diving offshore and I was thinking that there must be plenty of fish when I spotted a couple of dorsal fins and for the next 5 minutes we watched a group of around 10 Bottlenose Dolphins that seemed to be on a mission to get somewhere away to the south 🙂 Heading back south down the coast our final stop was at Howick Haven/Rumbling Kern as the tide started to flood in below the Bathing House.

    Lovely entertaining clients who are pleasure to spend time with, fantastic light, obliging wildlife and the Northumberland coast. There can’t be many better ways to spend a day 🙂

  • NEWT’s 4hr North Sea pelagics July/August 2020

    After a break of a few months we got back up and running in July, starting with our 4hr evening pelagics (and some 4hr daytime pelagics organised due to high demand!)

    Here’s a gallery of images covering a few of the trips where we found dolphins. 10 trips in total – 5 found White-beaked Dolphin, 4 found Bottlenose Dolphin 🙂

    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland
    Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, White-beaked Dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris, North Sea, Northumberland, whalewatching, whalewatching North Sea, whalewatching UK, whalewatching Northumberland, dolphin spotting, dolphin spotting UK, dolphin spotting North Sea, dolphin spotting Northumberland

  • Finale; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 14/09/19

    After two cancellations due to pretty awful conditions offshore, our final 10hr Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic for 2019 survived the weather and fittingly, given recent changes in cetacean distribution off our coast, was topped and tailed by Bottlenose Dolphins around the mouth of the Tyne with White-beaked Dolphins in the Farne Deeps sandwiched between the start and end of the day…

  • Dolphins and a stunning sunset 🙂 NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 03/07/19

    We set out from Royal Quays in better conditions than on Friday and Laura quickly found the Bottlenose Dolphins just around the corner in King Edward’s Bay again 🙂

    With Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Common Scoters all seen as we headed north towards Newbiggin, Laura spotted more dolphins and they came to bow-ride the JFK Two as the dipping Sun bathed them in beautiful light as Jupiter rose through the Belt of Venus and a stunning sunset provided a backdrop to St Mary’s Island as we headed back to the river 🙂

  • A cracking start, and 1000-up 🙂 NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 28/06/19

    Incredibly this is our 1000th blog post, and it coincides with our first pelagic trip of 2019…

    We’d been watching reports on the North East Cetacean Project Facebook group through the day so we knew there’d been dolphins at the mouth of the Tyne most of the afternoon, and Allan had seen them at 16.30 on his way back in from an angling trip.

    We weren’t even out of the mouth of the river when the first breaching Bottlenose Dolphins could be seen just north of the piers 🙂