A Seabird Safari

Wildlife thrives where people and their impact is minimised. So, arguably, the best wildlife in the UK is found offshore on remote islands where the wildlife can flourish in peace and quiet away from the threats of mainland UK.

Here, there are few, if any ground predators as most are kept rat-free, providing perfect nesting sites for seabirds. Dog walkers are scarce, if all present and footfall is low and considerate with visitors generally present to appreciate the wildlife and with its conservation in mind.

So, to sample the best of what our nation offers regarding offshore wildlife, it’s necessary to take to the water to access these remote locations. Search around and you find a plethora of tours and cruises which island-hop around our coast but dig a bit deeper, and often these are limited in where they can berth, restricted by the sheer size of the vessel. But, if you have access to a zodiac, this all changes and immediately, sandy beaches and rocky outcrops become an option for grappling your way onto isolated outcrops and so choosing the trip and vessel carefully is critical.  The stern of the MV Greg Mortimer is adorned with a stack of zodiacs ready to whisk guests off to locations inaccessible by the ship herself and it is the first expedition passenger ship to use the X-Bow technology offering a reduced impact and slamming loads when encountering challenging sea conditions, making for a very smooth ride on board. For these reasons, I chose to set sail aboard her on the “Jewels of Coastal UK” trip, ready for a wildlife extravaganza.

My favourite places in the UK are all offshore “jewels” - windswept and remote landscapes where the wildlife can just “get on with it”. Our family holidays often include a visit to the Channel islands, Western Isles of Scotland or some remote gem, so a trip itinerary encompassing some of the premier islands stops on the South, West and North of the UK was a dream come true.  Islands including some of my all-time Top Ten: Isles of Scilly, Lundy, Skomer, Grassholm, Anglesey, Isle of Man, Islay, Iona, Staffa, St. Kilda, Papa Westray and Fair Isle. 

On board, other guests were wildlife enthusiasts from all corners of the globe, some were first-timers to the UK and I was able to re-visit many favourite sites and species through new eyes: those of people who had never witnessed some of these before. To those from the US and Australia, even a glimpse of a cheeky red-breasted robin or a dancing dipper was novel and I marvelled in the excitement and anticipation each new sighting brought us. But, the draw of the sea bird colonies fuelled our energy about the trip and the promise of a huge range and number of seabirds on the visual menu every day of our trip from one of the smallest and certainly most charismatic, to our largest.