travel

We went away at the beginning of August 2026 to Northumberland and stayed in a little village called Newton-by-the-Sea. I took a boat trip out to the Farne Islands with Billy Shiel Boat Trips sailing out o Seahouses harbour.

The trip I took was the 1030am Grey Seal with Seabirds, 1.5 hours sailing out and around the Farne Islands. The weather was a bit rainy earlier in the morning so the sea was a bit rougher, which made for challenging photography. This was my first time using the camera on a boat!

I had my Nikon Z8 and 180-600mm lens and used this on 600mm most of the time. The boat did get fairly close to the islands but can’t get so close as to endagour the boat. So a good long focal length is required for close up shots.

I shot on around 1/2000, ISO640 and used 5fps to get as many shots as possible. The boat was moving a lot so this would have been better with a higher shutter speed if I was to go again.

Quick Overview

📍 Location: Seahouses
🌿 Habitat Type: Coastal
🎯 Target Species: Grey Seals (and seabirds)
📅 Best Season: All year for seals (varies for the seabirds)
🕒 Best Time of Day: Any
💰 Cost: £23.32 adult / £18.02 children
📅 Booking Required: Yes (see website)
🔗 Website: https://www.farne-islands.com/

Who Is This Best For?

✔ Beginners
✔ Advanced wildlife photographers
✔ Behaviour shooters
✖ Portrait shooters
✔ People wanting flight photography
✔ Landscape photographers

The main species were the Grey Seals, however there were still some Puffins around as well as Gannets, Guilemots, Shags, Blacked-backed Gulls, Kittywake and an Oyster Catcher on the islands.

There were a few Grey Seals about waiting for the tide to come back in.

The photos I managed to get aren’t the sharpest, but I’m happy with them for a first boat photography trip and with at least 3ft swells.

I would definatley recommend the Billy Shiel Boat Trip if you are in the area or want to travel up for this. They do several different trips during the day and even a sunset trip. So if you have good sea legs you could spend all day out there and even on the Farne Island landing trip.

As the UK spring weather is its usual unpredictability and work has been busy, I haven’t had chance to get out with my camera, so I’ve done some reviews of the new gear I’ve bought.

I have lots of Nikon EN-EL15c batteries now for my Z8 and Z6 cameras, so require plenty of chargers. After my last hide session at Leeds Photography Hide when I went through 12 batteries (some weren’t fully charged and some of my Z6 batteries had got mixed up that don’t work on the Z8). I wanted to get a better charger than the 2 battery ones I have.

Having looked around I spotted the SmallRig Four-Channel Camera Battery Charger for EN-EL15c. I bought this and as it has arrived quickly. It is currently priced at £31.90 ex VAT on the SmallRig website.

First impressions are that it is well packaged and of good quality build.

What’s in the box:
1x 4 channel charge unit
1x Instruction manual
1x USB C to C charge cable

Specs from SmallRig website:

The charger is 91x91x31mm in size.

This is compatible with Nikon EN-EL15c batteries that work on various Nikon models, including the Z 8, Z 7,Z 7II,Z 6III, Z 6II, Z 6,Z 5,Zf,D850,D810,D810A,D780,D750,D610.

4-Channel Fast Charging: With 45W PD protocol input, this charger significantly boosts efficiency—fully charging 4 batteries in just 3 hours—keeping your devices ready at all times.

Universal Protocol Compatibility: Supports 5V, 9V, 12V, and 15V inputs, including 5V/1A adapters. Smart queued charging activates based on voltage: 5V activates 1 channel; 9V activates 2 channels; 12V activates 3 channels; and 15V can charge 4 channels simultaneously.

Comprehensive Safety Protection: Each output port features short-circuit and overcurrent protection, ensuring safe and dependable charging.

Compact and Portable Design: Lightweight and portable, this charger is ideal for both travel and daily use—your ultimate charging companion.

I will come back to this once I use the charger soon as my batteries are all full for now.

Edit: I have used the charger a few times so far. It needs at least a 45w PD USB-C charger (15v) to get all 4 channels to work and charge 4 batteries at the same time. I bought one of these: UGREEN USB C Charger 45W Nexode GaN Dual Ports Plug Support PD 3.0/PPS

All works now and charges 4 batteries up at the same time.

Tag: travel

Billy Shiel’s Boat Trip

SmallRig Battery Charger