Birdwatching and Wildlife Tour in Shetlend
This 8-Day Shetland Wildlife & Birding Tour is leisurely paced and available as set departure. The Shetland Islands are an amazing group of islands in the subarctic.
They are much closer to Norway than they are to Edinburgh, and they feel very Nordic. Only 15 of the 100 islands have people living on them, making them a safe place for wildlife.
This amazing, all-inclusive tour is set up so that you can see the islands in the summer when they are at their best. During our Shetland wildlife, there won't be much "night," and the famous "Simmer Dim," a colourful glow coming from the north, will be the main light.
With almost 24 hours of daylight, there will be a lot of chances to see and do a lot of different things, and we will use two bases to cover the archipelago well. Some of the most beautiful places in the UK are huge seabird colonies.
On the cliffs, there are a lot of Puffins, Gannets, Guillemots, and Razorbills. Great and Arctic Skuas look for lost eggs and chicks, and we can see Arctic Terns and Eiders in the calmer parts of the coast. Take a fun boat ride around Bressay and Noss to see thousands of Gannets and other seabirds nesting on the steep cliffs and making a lot of noise.
Shetland is known for having a large number of Otters, and we hope to see more than one. It's also a great place to see whales and dolphins.
If we're lucky, we might even see orcas, which come to the coast of Shetland at this time of year. We might also see the Minke Whale, the Risso's Dolphin, and the White-beaked Dolphin.
There are some interesting Arctic-alpine flowers on the islands, and Golden Plover, Dunlin, and rare birds like Whimbrel, Red-necked Phalarope, Whooper Swan, and Red-throated Diver breed in the pools and tundra-like moors.
We will also go on a special trip to see the Storm-petrels arrive at an Iron Age Broch (fortress) after dark, which is a truly out-of-this-world event.
Shetland Wildlife & Birding Tour Highlights include:
- Both Rachael & Dan as leaders, even with groups of four (best leader:guest ratio around)
- Late-night boat trip to visit a Storm-petrel colony
- Watching Shetlands famous seabird cities from land and sea
- Boat trip to get a closeup perspective of the chaos in a Gannet colony
- Searching for Orcas and other cetaceans along the coast
- Finding and immersing ourselves with Otters
- Enjoying a plethora of northern breeding birds including Whooper Swans, Whimbrel, Red-necked Phalarope and Red-throated Diver
- Experiencing the unique botanical assemblages on Unst
Please note: this set-departure tour is also available as a private or custom tour on request. Please submit an enquiry with your preferred dates and group size.
If you’d like to try an alternative tour, look at what this Cairngorms Wildlife Park and Coast Tour offer.
Alternative Tour Name: Spectacular Shetland Wildlife - The Ultimate UK Wildlife Experience
Join Our Fixed Tour Starting Date
Tour Dates | Tour Availability | From Price | Spaces Left | |
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10/06/2023 - 17/06/2023 | available | GBP 2,195 |
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