YCN Wildlife & Birding Trips - September 2025

Sun 12th Oct, 2025

September 2025 was an action-packed month for our YCN wildlife and birding trips: 20 boat trips, three Black Grouse Safaris, one Estuary Birding Day, two Goshawk Safaris, three Flamborough Migration Days, two Spurn Migration Days and two Tailor Made Trips. We led 33 one day trips sharing our expertise with 270 guests!

Minke Whales - Staithes September 2025 © Richard Baines

The month kicked off with lots of Minke Whale and Dolphin action alongside some amazing seabirds on our Seabird and Whale boat trips. Big day highlights occurred on the 2nd September when we saw approximately 22 Minke Whales, 20 Bottlenosed Dolphin and 6 Common Dolphin alongside many Atlantic Grey Seals. On the morning of the 6th, we were surrounded by 30 Minke Whales!

Seabird and Whale Trip guests - Staithes September 2025

Feas Petrel Staithes - September 2025 © Richard Baines

The bird list was big with 30 species on the trips including 2 Black Terns, Arctic waders flying past the boat and the first Red-throated Divers moving south on migration. The afternoon trip held more whales and an amazing view of a Feas type Petrel flying north. These were three trips I was lucky enough to be leading and I will never forget them!

Caspian Gull - Staithes September 2025 © Mark Pearson

More Minke Whale action on the 8th with at least 8 alongside Bottlenose Dolphins, 2 Sooty Shearwaters, Manx Shearwater, a juvenile Atlantic Puffin and 3 Caspian Gulls. Common Scoter were on the move with some very nice close views of migrating wildfowl. Dolphins continued to entertain on our next few trips.

Black Grouse - Yorkshire Dales on our Black Grouse Safari September 2025 © Mike Day

Two days later Johhny Mac was enjoying leading his YCN Black Grouse Safari with 30 Black Grouse seen by his group on the 14th then 50 birds on the 15th tremendous!

Watching Goshawks. Tailor Made Forest Trip - September 2025 © Richard Baines

Goshawk Safaris started again mid-month with consistent views of both adults and juvenile Northern Goshawks alongside Willow Tits and Marsh Tits. The next forest trip was a Goshawk tailor made trip. Excellent views of Goshawks were followed by Common Crossbills, Common Kingfishers and great views of a White-throated Dipper.

Flamborough Cliffs © Richard Baines

On the 25th, 26th and 27th Mark arrived at Flamborough to lead three of his Flamborough Migration tours. It turned out to be great timing.

Flamborough Migration day guests with Mark Pearson - September 2025

Some lovely migrant birds were on show including Whinchat and Common Redstarts, Goldcrests and Song Thrushes.

Goldcrest on the edge of the cliffs after arrival - September 2025 © Mark Pearson

Barred Warbler - Flamborough September 2025 © Mark Pearson

Amongst the common migrants Mark expertly picked out several scarce species: Siberian Stonechat, two Barred Warblers and more than one Yellow-browed Warbler. Offshore Bottlenose Dolphins were a daily treat.

Glossy Ibis over the Humber Estuary - September 2025 © Richard Baines

We held our first Estuary Birding Day of the autumn on the 25th September. This was a great opportunity for me to introduce my guests to the amazing new Outstrays reserve near Patrington.

Over the course of the day we all had great views of a range of waders including over 100 Eurasian Curlew, 500 European Golden Plover, Black-tailed Godwits, Bar-tailed Godwits, Red Knot and Grey Plovers. Raptors included Marsh Harriers and Merlin. Later in the day we were in the right place to see five Glossy Ibis flying past us which was a lovely bonus.

We were back on the sea on the 26th, 27th and 29th with Seabird and Whale trips led by myself, Margaret and Jono. Seven Minke Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins put on a good show on several trips. Guests were equally kept busy watching ten Little Gulls, four Caspian Gulls, Merlin and a flock of 20 Barnacle Geese on migration. On most of these trips the high number of species continued to entertain with small numbers of waders moving south and songbirds passing us including a Redwing.

The Black Grouse Safari on the 29th ended up being a classic day. After great views of up to 50 Black Grouse the group moved on to Nosterfield nature reserve where a Red-necked Phalarope was really enjoyed by the group.

Goshawk Safaris on the 29th were still pulling in the sightings with four Goshawks and hundreds of Pink-footed Geese migrating over the forest.

Minke Whale and Whitby Abbey - September 2025 © Richard Baines

The last boat trip of the season was a beauty with fantastic views of seven Minke Whales and seven Harbour Porpoise offshore from Whitby.

Great Skua & Great Black-backed Gull - Staithes September 2025 - North Yorkshire © Richard Baines

Pink-footed Geese were still on the move over the boat and a Redpoll flew over us when we were two miles out at sea. It’s a thrill to see these songbirds on migration heading for the land over the waves.  

Two of our many five star reviews this month on Google:

We're already looking forward to taking another trip with Richard and Yorkshire Coast Nature on our next visit to England. In the meantime, we recommend them wholeheartedly. --Joe and Sharon

We had an excellent day’s birding in North Yorkshire with Johnny and Yorkshire Coast Nature. Expert guiding with plenty of background and information about the birds, ecology and landscape. On top of all that, I was delighted when we had such brilliant views of black grouse. Thank you very much! – Jonathon Wells

A fantastic month full of exciting wildlife encounters on the North Yorkshire Coast, Spurn, Flamborough, Humber Estuary, Yorkshire Dales National Park and North York Moors National Park.

Richard Baines

YCN Director and Wildlife Guide