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Joyriders; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 02/09/2020
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,…
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Persistence; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 13/08/19
Our first 10hr ‘Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic’ for 2019 had Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Gannets, Great Skuas, Puffins, Guillemots, a little bit of rain, a long rolling northerly swell, dark skies away over the mainland and, thanks to Kirstie’s sharp eyesight, some very obliging White-beaked Dolphins just before the squally weather reached us 🙂
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Evolving; Druridge Bay Bespoke Birdwatching 05/06/18
Yesterday was Brian and Carolyn’s 4th day out with NEWT and we were returning to the scene of their 1st – Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland… As we drove down the coast from Seahouses there was an ominous bank of fog just offshore but fortunately that’s where it stayed 🙂 Since that 1st Druridge trip…
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Dolphin days; NEWT’s Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic 26/08/17
With a forecast of light westerlies and good weather, I arrived at Royal Quays ahead of our 10hr Northumberland Ultimate Pelagic confident that we’d have a memorable day offshore… Gannet, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Manx Shearwater, Great Skua and Arctic Skua all gave obliging views and then we started finding Minke Whales 🙂 Continuing…
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Birds, birds, birds; NEWT’s North Sea pelagic 10/07/17
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Seawatching; Druridge Bay mini-safari 16/07/2015
Thursday’s second mini-safari was around NEWT’s local patch of Druridge Bay and southeast Northumberland. I arrived at Church Point to collect Mike, and we started with a scan of the sea in search of White-beaked Dolphin. It was a bit on the choppy side for observing cetaceans, but there was an obvious movement of seabirds…
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Never mind the Balearics…
…here’s the Bonxies. Watching the weather forecast during the week, and having a day on Holy Island on Thursday with Malcolm (trip report to come soon!), convinced me that there was somewhere I needed to be at dawn on Friday. Arriving at Church Point in the half-light there were a few cars already parked, and…
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Deep water; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 14/08/2013
Probably my favourite pelagic of all of the North Sea pelagic trips that we run (although I enjoy all of them immensely!) is our 10hr Farne Deeps – Northumberland’s ‘Ultimate Pelagic’. The forecast looked about as promising as it gets and I arrived at Royal Quays in good time, to discover that most of our…
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Every cloud has a silver(y) grey lining
Our final full-day pelagic for 2012 was on Saturday and, although I was really looking forward to it, it’s always a shame when we reach the end of our offshore season. With strong winds on Thursday, and charter boats cancelling trips on Friday, I still felt that we’d be able to sail. We gathered at…
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A Whale of a time on a millpond
Our ‘Whale and Dolphin Cruise’ has become an integral part of the Northern Experience Pelagics annual itinerary, and with an excellent weather forecast for yesterday’s sailing (and some detailed discussions between Martin and our skipper, John) optimism was running high. As we boarded Glad Tidings 5 with 50 clients, there was a really sociable atmosphere. …