Wild Discovery

10/06/2026

It is fantastic to be able to share the final presentation of a truly remarkable voyage beautifully pulled together by photographer Alex Williams.

It perfectly captures the spirit of adventure, the remarkable character of the islands, the superb wildlife encounters we had and the fun we all enjoyed over 12 days. Thank you Alex, and if watching this has inspired you to join us then get in touch as we will be undertaking a re-run in 2028!

Relive the magic of our inaugural Scottish Expedition charter betwe...

05/06/2026

As well as being a truly spectacular voyage around Scotland this expedition cruise between ourselves and Wild Earth Travel also raised thousands for charity.

Read more about who we supported here.

Our Conservation Cruise was a roaring success, not least as it raised thousands for Scottish charities as well as collecting valuable marine mammal and bird data.

02/06/2026

We are very excited to launch the first tour in an exciting new partnership with .

Later this year Wild Discovery will host a tour to the rarely visited African islands of São Tomé and Príncipe in search of the island endemics. These two islands hold at least 28 endemic birds, many threatened by habitat changes. This birding tour has been created to help support Birdlife Internationals ‘Preventing Island Extinctions’ project. Supporting conservation projects is a key facet of Wild Discovery tours and we are very proud to be able to offer this small-group tour this year.

With limited spaces book now to avoid missing out!

Full details can be found through the post as well as a link in the bio.

.international

29/05/2026

Hands up if you love Puffins 🙋‍♂️

Our conservation cruise visited a number of incredible Puffin colonies and they didn’t disappoint. Topping the experiences were Mingulay where hundreds of Puffins were gathered within touching distance, some collecting netting material, others excavating their burrows but all looking very dapper. An afternoon zodiac cruise around Staffa also gave us some very obliging Puffins on the water and our final experience was on the Isle of May where literally thousands of Puffins lined the banks and ridges on a bluebird day. Just perfect!

As an aside, who knows the collective noun for Puffins?

Pic 1 - Puffins on Isle of May
Pic 2 & 3 - Puffins on Mingulay
PIic 4&5 - paddling Puffins at Staffa
Pics 6&7 - Puffins on Mingulay

Many thanks to for image 8 taken on Mingulay with the Grey Seal haulout visible on the beach in the background; how good is this view and puffins sooooo close!!

Pic 9 - close Puffins on Mingulay

📷 .uk OM1 + M.Zuiko 150-400mm lens

.earth.travel

27/05/2026

Read our Wild Scotland Conservation Cruise summary below; the most successful remote Scottish voyage ever!

Read more about the most successful and comprehensive remote Scottish voyage ever!

18/05/2026

Today we ended our unique and exceptional voyage around Scotland.

We are tired, physically and emotionally, but ecstatically happy that 100 guests, friends, departed today on a wave of happiness and fulfilment after a truely remarkable voyage around the Scottish coast. Blood, sweat and tears have literally all come into it over the past two weeks but we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

It has been a brilliant partnership between .earth.travel and Wild Discovery, over two years in the making, hours of logistical planning and itinerary structuring to finally deliver a replication, and more, of the 1966 Scottish Ornithologists’ Club voyage. We delivered a true Scottish expedition visiting the most remote and awe-inspiring islands from St Kilda and Fair Isle to Sula Sgeir and North Rona. Our encounters were rich and memorable including two pods of Orca on the same day, the warmest of welcomes into the Fair Isle community, Puffins at arms length, the wild Atlantic whipping up a storm, the serenity of Iona Abbey and the grandeur of the Shiants and Noss cliffs. Steeped in thousands of years of history, lashed by infinite winds yet populated by tens of thousands of birds and tenacious island communities; Scotland and its islands are truly world class. Not only did we all have a fabulous time but we also raised thousands of pounds for , and .scotland.

We look forward to sharing more of these special encounters and places with you as we relive the voyage and if you are interested in joining us again in future please do get in touch either by dropping us a message here or you can email us at [email protected]

11/05/2026

There are not enough hours in the day to update you on our incredible voyage around Scotland!

This very exciting charter between Wild Discovery and Wild Earth Travel on board Sea Spirit has been simply phenomenal over the past four days.

We have had a bit of everything from Corncrakes to St Kilda, endless eagles to Orcas!

This afternoon we have had the most sensational encounter with 2 pods of Orca.
The first encounter occurred SSE of Sula Sgeir, a tiny rock, famous for its Guga Hunt. The team at the bow including Alison Lomax from Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust and Steve Truluck At Sea picked up a pod of five including an impressive bull and a stunning wee calf which came over to investigate the ship giving everyone incredible views. Three hours and 17 nautical miles later the team picked up another pod off North Rona (another exceptionally remote island), this time six animals were present.

We are now trying to search through the various Orca catalogues to work out which these individuals are… watch this space.

Orca were high on everyone’s bucket list so to get two encounters in a day is simple astonishing.

06/05/2026

We have just completed a fantastic week-long tour birding around the Highlands and coast to complement our exciting Scottish voyage that commences tomorrow.

The tour was a resounding success with 148 species recorded including many classic Scottish species such as Ptarmigan, Black and Red Grouse, Crested Tit, Slavonian Grebe and Golden and White-tailed Eagles; as well as a few more unusual species such as Marsh and Wood Sandpipers, Spoonbill, Great Egret, and a plethora of migrant waders and wildfowl (eg Tundra Bean Goose, White-fronted Goose, Greenshank, Ruff, Godwits and Whimbrel). We even managed a clean sweep of farmland birds such as Grey Partridge, Corn Bunting, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer as well as the key woodland species like Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Green Woodpecker and the crossbills.

Not only this but we got to experience it all in the ever-changing Scottish spring with days up at 20oC contrasting with snow showers on other mornings! The mammals didn't disappoint either with Red Squirrels, the Cairngorm Reindeer, Otter, and a number of smaller species all recorded.

Now, to explore the Scottish Islands!

25/04/2026

Who loves Penguins? 🙋

Today is World Penguin Day and over the past six months we have been lucky enough to see 15 of the 19 species of Penguin in the world so we thought we’d share a few of our encounters.

They are a remarkable and highly evolved group of birds that can survive in the most extreme conditions on the planet and are far more at home in water than they are on land. Each species has its own character, some shy like the Yellow-eyed, others bold like the Adelie and each with a fascinating array of behavioural traits. Many species have or are suffering substantial declines and are at the forefront of direct and indirect climatic changes that impacts their distribution and abundance. Some species such as Yellow-eyed (Hoiho) have seen an 80% decline in the population and are now classed as Endangered. Others such as King Penguin suffered hugely at the hands of humans 100 years ago but thankfully have now rebounded on islands such as Macquarie island.

Penguins also make great photographic subjects and we are looking forward to taking groups on future expedition cruises into the South Pacific and Southern Ocean so keep your eyes peeled for our departures.

OM System OM1 + M.Zuiko 150-400mm lens & M.Zuiko 300mm lens

16/04/2026

There is always an air of excitement when opening a moth trap, it’s a bit like a Christmas stocking, not knowing whether you’re going to get something really exciting or just a few nuts and oranges (thought we don’t catch many nuts and oranges in moth traps).

Yesterday morning our Wild Discovery group headed out to Bolonia on the coast of Andalusia to inspect some moth traps run by lepidopterist Dave Grundy. Dave migrates from the UK to Tarifa every spring to catch and record migrant moths (under license) that arrive in Europe from Africa.

Dave had set a number of traps at Bolonia and we headed out to see what had been caught. The results were astonishing. Among a myriad migrant moths (more on those later) we had one incredible resident species, the Giant Peacock Moth and Europes largest Lepidopteran.

This stunner of a moth is one of the Saturnidae, a group of moths renowned for being large, having bold patterns and being short-lived. The adults lack mouth parts and their sole purpose is to find a mate and breed.

We admired this remarkable moth in a truly stunning location and the continued to enjoy the plethora of other species also caught.

📷 .uk OM1 plus 60mm macro lens for close ups of head and wings.