Meet the Skipper

Dr Jonathan Wills

Your skipper and guide, Dr Jonathan Wills, has been birdwatching and boating around the shores of Shetland since childhood holidays. In 1970 he was the first warden of Noss National Nature Reserve and is still an honorary warden for Scottish Natural Heritage. He’s a former boatman to the Muckle Flugga Lighthouse and wrote his Ph.D. on the historical geography of Shetland. As an undergraduate he also studied geology and ecology.

Bobby Tulloch

In 1992 Jonathan founded Seabirds-and-Seals (originally called Bressaboats), after being inspired to take up wildlife guiding by the late Bobby Tulloch, the celebrated Shetland naturalist who taught him much of what he knows about seabirds, seals and otters – and how to get close to them without causing undue disturbance. He’s currently editing a biography of Bobby.

In 2001 Jonathan pioneered the use of remotely-controlled underwater cameras to explore Shetland’s marine wildlife. Inspired by working with the BBC Natural History Unit and by ROVing Eye’s tethered mini-submarine in Scapa Flow, Orkney, he’s devised new techniques and discovered some of Europe’s finest dive sites. The display screens give passengers the sensation of scuba diving – but without getting cold and wet, or worrying that their air’s running out!

As a Shetland councillor, Jonathan takes a keen interest in environmental and conservation issues. He’s a trustee of the Shetland Amenity Trust, has written and lectured extensively about Shetland’s wildlife and ecology and is a volunteer consultant for the Seaprise arm of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. He also runs a large and productive vegetable garden on his croft in Bressay and in the winter can often be found fishing for the pot around Noss and Bressay. In bad weather he writes children’s books to keep cheerful. His most recent publication is a book of bedtime stories, Cheer Up, Grampa Gloomifjord, available from The Shetland Times Bookshop

During the summer season various friends and relations take part in a crew rota to help Jonathan on deck, in the engineroom, deploying the underwater cameras and, most important of all, caring for the passengers.