Date
Cost
Availability
Deposit
Single Supp
| 24 Aug - 01 Sep 2024
£4495.00
5 Spaces
£895.00
£400.00
Book Now
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| Leaders | Darren Rees and one from our team |
| Flights | Air Canada, Scheduled
Outbound: Morning, Heathrow–Halifax
Inbound: Overnight, Halifax–Heathrow
Possible transit stop for inbound |
| Day 1 | Fly London to Halifax arriving mid-afternoon. Drive 2.5 hours to Digby for early evening meal. Final 1.5 hour transfer to base at Brier Island - 7 nights Brier Island Lodge. |
| Day 2 | First boat trip out from Brier Island. |
| Day 3 | Exploration of Brier Island including Northlight and Pond Cove areas. |
| Days 4-7 | Flexible four days with further birding hikes; second full day boat trip in Bay of Fundy; one day exploration of Long Island (Boar’s Light and Balancing Rock); third boat trip (half day) from Brier Island. |
| Days 8-9 | Transfer day with birding stop at Annapolis Royal Marsh, arriving Halifax late afternoon for evening flight, arriving UK morning of Day 9. |
| Weather | Warm and sunny with a chance of showers. Cooler on boats. May experience coastal fog (15°-25°C). |
| Walking | 1-2 miles on easy tracks. Light footwear recommended. |
| Meals | All included from dinner on Day 1 to dinner on Day 8 and are of good quality. |
| Insects | A few biting insects may be encountered, so bring repellent. |
| Accom | Twin and single rooms all ensuite. |
| Group | 10 |
Get close-up with Humpback Whales, plus a chance of rare Northern Right Whales. Great migrant birds, with
flocks of shearwaters, petrels and phalaropes.48uep6bbph|00000E4E|Spey_BESQL3|HolidayTypes|Subheading 48uep6bbphidval|NOVA S
| * Big whales close-up from short, sheltered boat trips
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| * Humpback, Fin and Northern Right Whales
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| * Fantastic migrant warblers, flycatchers and raptors
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| * Flocks of shearwaters, phalaropes and petrels
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| * Wild boreal forests running down to beautiful rocky shores
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| * Canada’s Eastern Maritimes, only six hours away
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| * Small group, at a quiet shoreline lodge, on magical Brier Island
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| Day 1 | Arriving in Halifax mid-afternoon, we drive two-and-a-half hours south and west to delightful Digby, for an early evening meal overlooking the water. Afterwards we take two short ferry rides to arrive at our base for the week, the charming Brier Island.
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| Days 2-7 | The small islands that poke from the mainland into the rich Bay of Fundy are truly magical and captivating. Beautiful spruce forests roll down to a rocky shore, marked with quiet bays and sleepy fishing ports. A delightful landscape of painted clapperboard houses; bright, bold lighthouses; wooden jetties with stacks of drying lobster pots and oh, foghorns. These sheltered waters see the rise and fall of the greatest tides on earth. Plankton, fish and sand lance in abundance, bring whales close to the shore – we’ve even seen them from the hotel!
We’ll take three boat trips from Brier Island to see these magnificent mammals, two half-day trips and one longer ‘survey’ trip. The sea is likely to be calm, though boat trips are always weather dependent and we’ll get close to big numbers of seabirds along with the great whales!
Minke Whales, up to 30-foot long, are generally the most fleet and unobtrusive, but Fin Whales - at 70-foot the second longest whale - are sleek, with a tall blow and a back that seems to roll on forever. Humpbacks are the star performers as they regularly raise their tail flukes when they dive. They are curious animals and often approach the boat spy-hopping when we wonder who is watching who. They also often pound the surface with their huge white pectoral fins or, if we are fortunate, launch their 35 tons clear of the water! Sometimes acrobatic White-sided Dolphins come around the boat, but it will be enigmatic Northern Right Whales that we’ll celebrate most over and we’ll take a full day boat trip to look for them. These are listed as critically endangered whales, with only around 300 individuals remaining in the world and we’ve enjoyed wonderful views in the past - fingers crossed.
Ocean-going seabirds will also be a big feature and we can expect close views of large numbers of Great, Sooty and some Manx Shearwaters. Wilson’s Petrels patter their feet over the surface and great flocks of thousands of Red-necked and Grey Phalaropes pick delicately on mats of weed.
On Brier Island, we’ll see some great bird migration. It’s a bottleneck for dazzling migrating warbler flocks that may hold Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Magnolia, Canada, Parula, Chestnut-sided and more – we’ll join our friends at the nearby banding (ringing) station and see some in the hand. There may be a variety of those confusing American flycatchers, plus Purple Finch and Eastern Kingbird. At Pond Cove, the stunted spruce forest sweeps out around the bay, where Common Eider and Black Guillemot loaf, whilst mighty Bald Eagle sweep low overhead. Least Sandpipers and Semi-palmated Plovers scurry along the seaweed and on marshy pools we may find Short-billed Dowitcher and White-rumped Sandpiper. Migrant Monarch butterflies drift by, Great Blue Heron stand in the shallows and Pine Siskins twitter in the trees.
The southern end of Long Island has weed-strewn bays that hold Solitary, Spotted and Semi-palmated Sandpipers and both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Noisy Blue Jays may accompany us on our walk along the Balancing Rock Trail to the misty coast and mobile flocks of warblers may include Northern Parula, American Redstart and Black-and-white, plus Black-capped Chickadee and Red-breasted Nuthatch. Elsewhere, in the lichen encrusted tamarack and spruce forests, we may see some of the specialities such as Boreal Chickadees and Gray Jays, with Palm Warbler and Hermit Thrush in the supporting cast.
Locally we can explore for more landbirds on Digby Neck. Each day we’ll take the quiet roads and little ferries that link the islands. There can be a steady movement of southward bound raptors: Turkey Vulture teeter on raised wings, Osprey flap by and small spirals of hawks include Broad-winged and Sharp-shinned, with Goshawk, Merlin and American Kestrel amongst them. Belted Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper and Hooded Merganser are on local ponds, whilst Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American Goldfinch and Dark-eyed Junco inhabit nearby gardens. There are also Eastern Chipmunk and we’ve enjoyed views of lodge-building Beavers.
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| Days 8-9 | We reluctantly leave Brier, travelling first to Annapolis Royal, where a well-landscaped wetland Reserve always turns up a new selection of birds: there’s bright red Cardinals, beautiful Cedar Waxwing and ducks including Blue-winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy, Wood and Ring-necked. Finally, we arrive at Halifax for our evening flight, arriving back in the morning of Day 9.
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Just some of what we hope to see..
| Humpback Whale | Willet | Cedar Waxwing |
| Northern Right Whale | Semi-palmated Sandpiper | Red-eyed Vireo |
| Fin Whale | Least Sandpiper | Northern Parula |
| Minke Whale | Short-billed Dowitcher | Black-throated Green Warbler |
| White-sided Dolphin | Red-necked Phalarope | Black-and-white Warbler |
| Great Shearwater | Grey Phalarope | Blackburnian Warbler |
| Sooty Shearwater | Ruby-throated Hummingbird | American Redstart |
| Wilson’s Storm Petrel | Belted Kingfisher | Ovenbird |
| Bald Eagle | Boreal Chickadee | Common Yellowthroat |
| Killdeer | Red-breasted Nuthatch | Northern Waterthrush |
"Lots of highlights. Pec slapping Humpbacks! The time we spent at the banding station. Seeing Raccoon and Porcupine, which I didn't expect. Wonderful scenery and relaxed pace. Excellent food. The spectacular sandpiper roost at Evangeline Beach on the way back to the airport. Brilliant trip!"
Joan Hunter
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"Seeing humpback and fin whales for the first time, hearing a humpback blowing early one morning from my bedroom, an exhilarating trip on a Zodiac, seeing so many birds in the hand at the banding station, watching a peregrine chasing a flock of sandpipers, getting that Brier Island feeling and enjoying the friendliness of the people of Nova Scotia and feeling lucky to have made friends with a great bunch of people."
Margaret Mowbray
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"Having had time to reflect, my greatest holiday moment was the trip on the zodiac. At one point we were completely surrounded by whales, which in a small boat was especially thrilling. I also loved the time we spent at the North Light Banding Station. Being able to see the birds in close up was very special. The team at the banding station were very welcoming and happy to take time to let us view and photograph the birds in hand."
Linda Inness
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"Unexpected sight of a barred owl sat low down in tree as told by passer by on day one. Humpbacks so close to boat, mother and calf swam under boat. View of breaching whales from shore. Sighting three Finn Whales. Banding station was superb, to see so many birds in the hand, all the banders so generous with their time and knowledge, happy to give the best view of the birds for our photos and so good with the children. Merlin chasing hawk at the lodge. Osprey flying over fish farm at harbour. Hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies. Beaver at Sandy Cove with Muskrats. Kettle of hawks 100+. 2 Peregrines hunting plovers (causing murmerations) approx. 60 metres away. Bald eagle taking gulls off water."
Saly Axten
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"On our arrival we were taken the very short drive to North Light and to our amazement and delight saw Humpback whales very close to shore. One performed balletic breaches right in front of our eyes and I was lucky enough to see this through a scope which made it appear to be immediately in front of me. What a welcome. We made a couple of trips to the banding station where we met the most friendly and helpful volunteers who were recording data on migrating birds. This provided us with the opportunity to see the birds as they were banded and gave me the opportunity to start to recognise the different species - not so easy when they hide in the bushes! How do you begin to describe zipping over the water in a zodiac to arrive at a place where the Humpbacks surrounded us, breaching, fluking and slapping. If that wasn't enough, numerous white sided dolphins performed a synchronised swimming/leaping display for our enjoyment. You needed owl vision to see it all. Oh and mentioning owls, on our very first day, before we even arrived at our accommodation we found a Barred Owl! Departure day is always sad but Darren and Julian worked hard to make it palatable by finding a large beaver in broad daylight swimming around, grazing on the ground and generally posing for photos. This was followed by watching hundreds of sandpipers taking to the air at once to fool a couple of peregrines who fancied at least one of them for dinner. The sandpipers won the battle! All returned to safety (eventually) and the peregrines went elsewhere."
Jane Nickerson
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"Whilst I loved all the holiday I felt privileged to go out for the day with the cetacean experts and to have such a chance to see both whales and seabirds. It was amazing to see great rafts of phalaropes on the sea and the numbers of great shearwaters and petrels. These in addition to the humpback whales which I'd expected to see but also a group of three immense fin whales which kept surfacing so close to the boat. What an experience! Apart from this the bird banding by such experts was very special and the banders were very friendly and willing to talk about the birds and what they were doing."
Diana Housley
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"Where to start....
The boat trips for whales especially the day out with the research team.
Breaching humpback whales, humpbacks alongside the boat, leaping White-sided Dolphins, a ride in the rib, and warblers in the hand at the ringing station"
Pauline Pothecary
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"Full day whale watching tour - I felt very privileged to be part of that. To have the boat to ourselves and go out for a full day was magical. The conditions also happened to be perfect - very, very lucky. Going to the bird banding station was also brilliant. I've never done that before and the team were so welcoming and generous with their time. That was a very memorable experience"
Sian Piper
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"The day on the boat out with the research trip was extraordinary, a huge privilege. The water was flat calm like a mirror, the sun was shining, the dolphins were leaping and lots of humpbacks came out to see us, some interatcing directly with the boat. It was an amazing day"
Sarah Sharland
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"There were just too many to pick out one, so here goes... The first morning, going out first thing with Darren and Simon and seeing all those new warbler birds, at least 22 new birds I'd never seen before, all before breakfast. Could it get any better? Well, yes it could! I was really looking forward to visiting the Banding Station and seeing the birds close at hand - that lived up to and exceeded all my hopes and expectations, and I had some very special moments, especially when I was allowed to hold and release some of the birds. Lance and his team are so gentle and willing to share all their experience and expertise with patience and kindness. I also loved the day we went out with the Marine Naturalists on the Mega Nova boat. We saw so many whales and sea birds, and had a brilliant time with them all, and there was still time to buy the T-shirt at the end. Our trip on the Zodiac boat was thrilling and I got some great video footage of 'fin-slapping'. What else? - well seeing my very first humming bird, a chipmunk and a muskrat added icing on the cake, and finally spotting an osprey which I'd hoped for, just so very special. Thank you Speyside Wildlife - you certainly made me feel valued as a customer, and I sing your praises to all who will listen about the great holiday you planned for us."
Joyce Sawford
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"In no particular order - the whole holiday was a highlight really. The short walk from the hotel on the first morning - 24 species I'd never seen before all in 90 minutes. The visits to the banding station - lovely people with a great deal of knowledge. The boat trips to see whales - particularly the full day trip - I didn't dream I'd see so many whales so close up."
Tom Sawford
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