Leaders	Darren Rees
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	5

Get close-up with Humpback Whales, plus a chance of rare Northern Right Whales. Great migrant birds, with flocks of shearwaters, petrels and phalaropes.

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	*   Big whales close-up from short, sheltered boat trips
	*   Humpback, Fin and Northern Right Whales
	*   Fantastic migrant warblers, flycatchers and raptors
	*   Flocks of shearwaters, phalaropes and petrels
	*   Wild boreal forests running down to beautiful rocky shores
	*   Canada’s Eastern Maritimes, only six hours away
	*   Small group, at a quiet shoreline lodge, on magical Brier Island

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.
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.
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.

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