Seabird & Whale Trip Report 4th & 10th Sept

Sun 19th Sep, 2021

Two great days on a gentle sea in the company of seabirds and whales on the spectacular coastline of the North York Moors National Park. Heaven! Our top team were guides Jono Leadley on the 4th and Mark James Pearson on the 10th, joined by keen eyed skipper Sean Baxter. Read on for some great photos, Mark's 4th Sept highlight and a full list of sightings at the end of the blog.

Minke Whale YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Carol Toohie

Clients Carol and Darren Toohie have kindly shared their fabulous photos from the 4th September trip. I really like Darrens photo of the Arctic Skua showing it in hot pursuit of a juvenile Kittiwake against the backdrop of the Yorkshire coast. 

Richard Baines YCN

Arctic Skua and Kittiwake YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Darren Toohie

Northern Fulmars YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Carol Toohie

Common Scoter YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Carol Toohie

Northern Fulmar YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Darren Toohie

Great White Egret 4th Sept YCN Seabird & Whale Trip © Darren Toohie

Mark takes up the story of his trip below;   

A perfect, calm day with sunny intervals and a North sea like a millpond, with no reports of Minkes, we opted to go big, or rather, far out - a full 13km to be exact, checking likely areas on the way. Seabirds were not especially abundant, but we had lots of very
accommodating Harbour Porpoises; and after spotting a distant baitball (too far away for the naked eye), I asked Skipper Sean to approach it, keeping it in the bins and putting everyone on alert.

Minke Whale 10th Sept trip © Mark Pearson

Plenty of Gannets circling and diving, and then, right on cue as we arrived, a feeding Minke surfacing..... we spent the next half hour or more with it, and shortly afterwards another joined in the fun, and we had breathtaking, close-up views on a perfectly silent, tropical sea.

Mark Pearson YCN