Looking back at 2022
Wow! What a year. In the blink of eye another 12 months has passed us by, action-packed and full of incredible wildlife highlights. For us and many other businesses we are still clawing ourselves back up to full speed following on from the major impacts of Covid-19 but that hasn’t stopped us and it has been superb to get out and about with so many of you around Scotland and further afield.
We have divided our time between running our own tours and day trips through Wild Discovery and also working as lecturers and Naturalists aboard expedition cruise vessels. In short it’s kept us on our toes! So what have been our highlights? It is very difficult to pull out key moments but receiving the ‘Best Outdoor Experience’ Award from the Aberdeen City and Shire Tourism Awards has made all the effort thus far seem even more rewarding. Locally to us we have LOVED showing you the likes of Pine Martens, Beavers and their kits, rutting Red Deer, Golden and White-tailed Eagles, Adders, a plethora of Orchids and invertebrates including some rarer moths and butterflies. Appreciating species and places on our doorstep is vital, wherever you live.
A Beaver kit practices its twig collecting skills right by our feet!
Further afield our tours have enjoyed daily magical wildlife encounters through the Highlands of Scotland, the Cairgorms, Shetland, Islay and Jura, out to the Western Isles and even St Kilda. From Orcas and Humpback Whales to sensational Gannets, Grey Seal pups and thousands of geese our tours have taken in the very best of Scottish wildlife. In fact on one of our tours we logged a phenomenal 33 whale and dolphin sightings involving 547 animals of six species as we crossed the Minch by ferry; probably the greatest abundance of cetaceans recorded in the UK in many decades, if ever! Additionally we have enjoyed some great experiences with our conservation partners from understanding the work being done to rewild areas of the Cairngorms to sustainable farming; it has been fascinating. In the summer we attended the Global Birdfair at Rutland where we met many of you and enjoyed a great weekend promoting Scottish wildlife watching, thanks for making the effort to come and say hello and we look forward to seeing you again there next year (14-16 July 2023).
Our first year as exhibitors at the Global Birdfair in Rutland was a real success.
As lecturers and naturalists we have helped to engage over 1200 people this year around the planet. Our voyages have taken us from the Scottish coast, through the Arctic from Svalbard to Alaska and to the Antarctic, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Needless to say, every voyage had world-class wildlife from tens of Polar Bears to Narwhals, Type D Killer Whales to Hummingbirds along the South American coast, hundreds of thousands of penguins, stunning Magellanic rainforest, remarkable Arctic indigenous communities and much, much more.
The undoubted highlight of our time on ships was encountering a pod of the mythical Type D Orca in the Drake Passage.
2023 is shaping up to be an equally busy and diverse year with our tours already booking up and a number of expedition cruises in the making. Don’t miss out - check out our tours now!
We will soon be launching some interesting new not-for-profit weekends and tours and 2023 will see us announce a very exciting new project… watch this space.
Thank you for all your support and interest this year and we can’t wait to travel, engage and enjoy time with you next year. Where ever you are in the world, whatever your beliefs, enjoy the last few days of 2022 and here’s to a fab, wildlife-packed 2023.
Rachael & Dan
Wild Discovery