Hebridean Wildlife Cruises On By
Posted on Thu 27 Jun 2019 · by Paul Sharman
We are now at that point in the wildlife watching season around the Outer Hebrides where the seabird colonies are busy incubating eggs or maybe have chicks already. Meanwhile at sea the plankton is blooming and the baitfish are arriving which means basking sharks, minke whales and more dolphins are coming into the area. All good news for passengers aboard MV Monadhliath out on our wildlife watching cruises and day trips from Stornoway right now. I thought I would share some recent images of mine from a glorious 3-night cruise just over a week ago when I was delighted to see my first minke whales, including a young calf that came to hang around the boat for a while giving us great views. This was followed up by spectacular sightings of white-tailed sea eagles and a pair of huge basking sharks going about their business filtering out the plankton from the surface layer of the ocean.
The puffins at the Shiant Isles continue to delight along with their neighbours the guillemots, razorbills and shags. Talking of birds, one area of wildlife we weren't really expecting to be quite so good to us was the pelagic seabirds! We ended up seeing all 4 species of skua - great, arctic, pomarine and long-tailed, plus a Leach's petrel amongst all the storm petrels and a handful of Manx shearwaters too. If we have some more dedicated and experienced birdwatchers along in future (as we did this time) it will be interesting to see if these sightings continue.
If you would be interested in joining us for any of our cruises they really do make a great short break with choices of 1, 3 & 5 nights and flights into Stornoway from several locations now, including Southend for all you Londoners itching for an escape to the Hebrides!
See the full details and book today at https://hebrideanadventures.co.uk - we look forward to welcoming you on board soon.