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Supporting cast; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 19/07/2013
In late July there are a few species that we’d be amazed to not find on a North Sea pelagic trip; Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake, Fulmar and Gannet are all great birds to see, and are all part of the experience that is the North Sea in mid-summer. There are other species that can overshadow…
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A Whale of a time; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 12/07/13 Part 2
It was a chance I wasn’t going to miss; I was on the PV St Oswald, we were about to pass the SarahJFK in the River Tyne at North Shields, Sarah was on board with 10 of our clients and a late withdrawal had left a space free 🙂 The smoothest of ship-to-ship transfers –…
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Mirror calm; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 05/07/13
The North Sea can be a strange place. I’ve been out there in calm, sunny conditions, heavy rain, and I’ve carried out survey work for the North East Cetacean Project in conditions – dense fog, white-out blizzard, ‘interesting’ swell – where we wouldn’t have hesitated to cancel the trip if it was part of our…
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Sunset spectacular; NEWT’s North Sea Pelagic 28/06/13
We’ve seen some fantastic wildlife during the 16 years that I’ve been running pelagics in the North Sea off Northumberland; Wilson’s Petrel, Great Shearwater, Grey and Red-necked Phalaropes, Sabine’s Gull, Ocean Sunfish, Minke Whale and White-beaked Dolphin are just a few of the highlights. One thing that so many clients mention though, is just what…
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The power of the sea
We rarely let the weather get the better of us. Apart from our annual programme of North Sea Pelagics, where the weather really can make a difference to a trip going ahead or not, we can pretty much cope with anything the elements throw at us. I collected Harry and Maureen for their mini-safari on…
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Sailing the ocean blue; Seal Safari 20/06/2013
In any list of ‘Northumberland’s Big 5’ there will always be disagreements about the species that should be included. One species that really epitomises the wildlife of North Northumberland is the ‘hook-nosed sea pig’…or Grey Seal to give it a less offensive handle than the translation of it’s Latin name 😉 I collected John and…
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Back to school
Occasionally I still get to do the whole school teacher role…but it’s enjoyable for me and my students 🙂 I met up with Carol at Seahouses Harbour last Saturday for an all-day one-to-one photography session, only to learn the inevitable – conditions weren’t suitable for landing on Staple Island, so we were going to be…
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Against the light
In near-perfect conditions we arrived at Seahouses yesterday evening for our 3hr coastal cruise on Ocean Explorer. As well as some of our ‘regulars’ we had Andy, Jan and Sam on board, on their final evening in Northumberland. Soon after heading south down the coast towards Dunstanburgh we came across a couple of Harbour Porpoises. Typically…
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A damp day in North Northumberland
As I got home on Tuesday night after our evening pelagic the rain was still hammering down. With a forecast of more rain for Wednesday, and a planned Farne Islands safari, I started thinking about a contingency plan as I dried off all of my camera equipment. Wednesday dawned…with more heavy rainfall. I needed an…
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Some Hobby
Wednesday was a trip that I’d been looking forward to for some time. Syd is a regular client, and always very entertaining, and this time around his son Gavin was booked with him as well, for a Farne Islands safari. With plenty of comments on Twitter in the weeks leading up to the trip, we…