Bottlenose dolphin are probably permanently resident in our waters now, and are frequently seen very close to shore. In contrast, white-beaked dolphin and minke whale are mainly seasonal visitors (peaking between July-October). Harbour porpoise are resident, but small, undemonstrative, and a real challenge to find in anything other than very calm seas.

Our waters are too shallow for some and too cold, or too warm(!), for others but 15 of the ~30 species of cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises) recorded in the UK have occurred here.  Some of the rarer visitors haven’t been seen in a long, long, time - false killer whale at Beal in 1935 and bowhead whale at Newbiggin in 1869 for example – although last year produced two major rarities with a fin whale (first NE record since 1915) at the Farne Islands and two Sowerby’s beaked whales past Whitburn. Two species that attract a lot of public interest, often for tragic reasons, humpback whale and sperm whale, are both demonstrating an increasing pattern of occurrence.

Northern Experience Wildlife Tours' (NEWT’s) pelagic wildlife trips, and some incredibly skilled shore-based photographers, are building a detailed picture of which individual dolphins are here, which dolphins they’re regularly associating with, and where they spend most of their time, so that we can provide data to inform marine conservation decision-making processes. The chaos and challenge of the last 18 months has meant we haven’t been able to run the incredibly popular pelagic trips for NWT of the last few years, but we’re already planning for having them back in 2022.  Look forward to seeing you then!