Seabird & Whale Boat Trips Late July – Early August 2026

Tue 11th Aug, 2026

It’s amazing how much wildlife we can pack in to two short weeks. On the 27th July a fabulous encounter with 16 Bottlenose Dolphins interacting with our boat and each other, kicked off a great start to this very productive Seabird and Whale trip period. We kept a safe distance but they were too curious, it wasn’t long before they approached the boat following us in our wake for a short time. Then on the 8 August we had another magical encounter. 

Over many years of dolphin encounters on our trips we have seen a big difference between large pods of boisterous adults, young and old compared to the quiet protective mothers and calves.

Enjoying the Bottlenose Dolphins - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 8 August 2026 © Richard Baines

On the 7th August we spotted four Bottlenose Dolphins which were close inshore at Sandsend and immediately we could see it was two mothers with smaller dolphins which were staying very close to their mothers. We made sure we stayed more than 250m away and these dolphins didn’t approach so we immediately knew they were trying to feed by themselves. 

This is a great time of year for dolphin encounters with sightings on most days within our area.

Black-legged Kittiwake & Northern Fulmars - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 8 August 2026 © Richard Baines

Seabirds featured strongly during this time with good numbers of breeding birds; Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars were numerous on all of our trips during this period. On the 27th July kittiwakes were still on the cliffs with large chicks almost ready to fledge and on the same date a Great Skua attacked a Herring Gull right next to our boat! 

Great Skua - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 27 July 2026 © Richard Baines

On the 7th August we watched the first fully grown chicks take their first flight. Peregrine Falcons are very active at this time of year and we saw birds on most trips during this time including a male and female above Staithes not far from the kittiwakes on the 10th August. 

Harbour Porpoise - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 31 July 2026 © Richard Baines

On the 31st July as well as six Bottlenose Dolphins we also found six Harbour Porpoise. This was our only sighting of porpoise during these two weeks which was surprising but they can be very secretive especially when the larger and more aggressive Bottlenose Dolphins are around. 

On the 31st July we also found two Mediterranean Gulls. This was a notable day for passage of this species on the Yorkshire coast with good numbers recorded elsewhere by birders on the coast. Skuas and Shearwaters have been very scarce during this time so a single Arctic Skua, Manx Shearwater and a Sooty Shearwater were very welcome on the 31st July.

European Storm-Petrel - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 7 August 2026 © Richard Baines

The 7th August was notable for only our third sightings of European Storm-Petrel in 12 years of boat trips. I was trying to attract a few Northern Fulmars to the boat with small amounts of chum when I noticed a small petrel. Thankfully it flew right past all of my guests at close range and I managed to grab a few record photos to confirm the species. An exciting encounter of a bird which is hard to see on the Yorkshire coast. Even more unusual on the 7th was a Mute Swan flying over the sea! 

Minke Whale - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 8 August 2026 © Richard Baines

Minke Whales have been present on our North Yorkshire coastline for the last few weeks but only in small numbers and often hard to find so two on the 8th August seen by all of our guests was great. This was followed by five the next day close to Staithes. Also, on our 8th August trip we struck dolphin gold again with a pod of 20 Bottlenose Dolphins close inshore.

Common Guillemot adult and juvenile - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 8 August 2026 © Richard Baines

Out at 5 miles on the on the same date we located a fantastic flock of 200+ Northern Gannets feasting on a spike of fish possibly Mackerel or Herring. It was wonderful watching them dive close to the boat alongside kittiwakes and fulmars feeding on surface food. In the same area were at least 200 Atlantic Grey Seals! 

Roseate Tern adult - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 7 August 2026 © Richard Baines

Close inshore on the same date were good numbers of Sandwich Terns and I heard the distinctive sound of a calling Roseate Tern. It was exciting to pick out at least one adult and a juvenile just north of Staithes feeding in a group of Common Terns and kittiwakes. On the same day we found one juvenile Atlantic Puffin. This year puffin numbers have been lower than in previous years as many appear to have headed out to sea on migration earlier than last year. 

After a great couple of weeks which included increasing numbers of Minke Whales, I was very optimistic for our trip on the 10th August but wildlife is never predictable!

Short-beaked Common Dolphin - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 10 August 2026 © Richard Baines

Despite an extensive search we couldn’t find the previous day’s whales. Then out of the blue a report of “hundreds of dolphins” from a local fishing boat stopped us in our tracks. A quick turn around and we were heading for Runswick Bay. In the distance we could see lots of splashing from dolphins approx. 1.5 miles out from the coast. As the great majority of Bottlenose Dolphins use inshore waters on our coastline, we suspected these may be a different species.

Short-beaked Common Dolphins - Yorkshire Coast Nature Seabird & Whale trip 10 August 2026 © Richard Baines

When we got there, we were quicky surrounded by a large pod very curious Short-beaked Common Dolphins. This species is very scarce on our coastline so we were all mega excited! We estimated between 50-100 dolphins which as far as we know is the largest pod seen in Yorkshire. By slow driving and ‘drifting with style’ Sean Baxter our skipper skilfully managed to stay in touch with the pod for a good time without disturbing their movements.

Celebrating the dolphin encounter with The Two Jonnies - 10 August 2026 © Richard Baines

On the way back to Staithes one lucky guest saw a Minke Whale which was great for our daily sightings. Late July and early August is often the best time for a large number of species and this year was really good with a total of four species of cetaceans, 31 birds and five butterfly species migrating past the boat: Small White, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell.  

We have a small number of places left on our Seabird and Whale Trips 2026 CLICK HERE