My Favourite Yorkshire Birding Day 2025 - Jono Leadley

Fri 19th Dec, 2025

Shear Magic!

It was a lumpy, bumpy start to our Seabird and Whale trip on the 24th August 2025. I noticed a few nervous glances being exchanged as we pushed our way out of Staithes harbour in the early morning sunshine, into a lively North Sea. Wind and swell had been running down from the north all week, so this promised to be an interesting trip.

Guests on baord our Seabird & Whale trip Staithes Pelagic © Richard Baines

Spotting Minke Whales and other cetaceans is made much harder in these conditions, so as a guide I focussed hard on trying to spot a fin. We bumped out to two miles offshore, the picturesque seafront of Staithes diminishing in the distance, searching areas of sea where we had most recently encountered whales. Groups of feeding seabirds are one of the main things I look for as a guide on these trips, and after a while, I reported to Sean, our Skipper, that there was a decent flock of Northern Gannets circling and diving a little further out. We chugged further out, with mounting tension and excitement onboard. Suddenly, a fin broke the surface “Minke Whale!” was the shout and everybody turned to face starboard, squinting through the glare to get that first view of a whale.

Minke Whale - Staithes © Richard Baines

The magical 19 seconds elapsed and then the hulking, shiny grey head of a minke broke the surface in a glistening spray of seawater, followed by the arcing back and falcate dorsal fin, before it descended once again into the depths. We had all seen it! A Minke Whale! For some, their first ever whale, cue grins all round, high fives, whoops and cheers. I even spotted a tear or two – not something you see often on the face of tough Yorkshire folk.

But this sighting left us wanting more, much more, and we weren’t to be disappointed.

Northern Fulmar © Richard Baines

We followed the two-mile line south, towards Sandsend. The shout went up again, this time on the port side; not one but two Minke Whales. Then, another right behind us and one off to starboard – a whole herd of whales! The sound of their breaths had us swivelling round to catch a glimpse, or for the skilled photographers, that all important snap. Atlantic Grey Seals started to appear too, and Sean pointed out big shoals of Herring on the fish-finding sonar. It is Herring that drive this whole ecosystem, with stocks recovering having been fished out decades ago. With their return, the wildlife of this part of the North Sea is returning and it is a joy to behold. Over 50 Grey Seals snorted and splashed around us, eyeing us suspiciously. Gannets and Northern Fulmars cruised past. Our first Sooty Shearwaters powered through effortlessly.

These Bournville chocolate-brown seabirds with sporty silver wing linings, have travelled from the distant South Atlantic to visit our seas in Yorkshire. It is a real privilege to see them. I explained that we often saw a handful on these trips, so when one became five, and five became thirty, I was speechless! The shearwaters and other seabirds seemed to be moving purposefully a little further south, so we followed. After twenty minutes, we joined the feeding frenzy! Minke Whales, Grey Seals and a couple of hundred seabirds swarmed round the boat, gorging on the spawning Herring. I glimped a bird that looked like a large shearwater, but it was heading away and I soon got distracted by our first Great Skua, or Bonxie, which appeared behind the boat in typical menacing fashion.

Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater & Northern Fulmar - Staithes Pelagic - 24 August © Jono Leadley

A few moments later, I locked on to the unmistakeable form of a Great Shearwater and nearly leapt out of the boat in excitement! This is a stunning, majestic species, and only the second time in eight years I have seen one on these trips. It was tricky to get everybody on to this pelagic wanderer, but I needn’t have worried as it pitched in ten metres from the boat and proceeded to give fabulous views.

Sean cut the engine and we drifted with the throng. And then, the icing on the cake, was literally, cake, as Sean produced a delicious lemon drizzle baked by his wife, Tricia, the night before. Eating cake whilst enjoying naked-eye views of Great and Sooty Shearwaters in sight of the Yorkshire coast – it doesn’t come much better than this!

I have been lucky enough to have been leading whale and seabird tours for eight seasons now, and every trip is different and memorable in its own way. Roll on summer 2026!

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about our Seabird & Whale Boat Trips CLICK HERE

Jono Leadley

YCN Wildlife Guide