The Plancius docked in Aberdeen about breakfast time, to allow more passengers joining us that afternoon. Oceanwide Expeditions had laid some activities for the passengers who had joined in Vlissingen. We spent the morning with some lovely Grey Seal encounters at the Ythan estuary, before heading onto the Seabirds cliffs at the Bullers of Buchan. We were dropped in the car park and it was only a few minutes' walk to the cliffs and the two sheltered coves.
There were two narrow channels, where the sea had cut deep into the coastline and therefore, it was possible to view the Seabird colony from the North or South sides or a narrow central ridge. I chose the latter option. There was a good selection of East Scottish Seabirds nesting on the cliffs.
There was a good selection of East Scottish Seabirds nesting on the cliffs.
We had an American couple Nick and Catherine on board. Catherine, said that morning that her main target was to see a Puffin. I was surprised by this given the likelihood of seeing Blue Whales and Polar Bears on the trip. Having found this Puffin, I looked round and Catherine was the nearest passenger and was delighted to see her first Puffin. She would have been the first passenger to see her number one target on the trip and after sightings of a number of other species, she fortunately, wasn't the last happy passenger.
I spent some time trying to get some photos of the Kittiwakes. The nesting individuals weren't hard, but trying to get flight shots was more challenging.
After about ninety minutes at the cliffs, it was time to head back to the coaches. It was time to return to Aberdeen and reboard the Plancius. I will cover our departure in the next Blog Post.