My Passion: Keeping watch of the marine life is such an escape

My day job, as a chartered legal executive in a busy law firm in Hull is quite demanding, and although I love my job it can often feel like I’ve taken root at my desk.

To get away from it all, I have quite an unusual hobby and like to spend my leisure time volunteering as a research surveyor for MARINElife, a charity dedicated to developing cetacean and seabird monitoring.

Weekends are often spent crossing the North Sea to Germany, Denmark and Scandinavia, on the bridge of a freight ferry. I record sightings of whales, dolphin and seabirds as well as monitoring the weather and sea conditions. I started venturing further afield last year across the Atlantic’s Bay of Biscay to Spain and Portugal. I have another ten-day return trip scheduled for November.

It is a complete change of environment from the office. The waves have a calming effect, even when they are pretty choppy. There is always something interesting to see, either the seasonal migration of birds, a solitary harbour porpoise rushing to avoid the boat or a super-pod of dolphin coming in to bow ride and play in the ship’s wake. My favourite sighting was a humpback whale doing back-stroke in the Skaggerak off the coast of Denmark.

The role really does take me away from it all, there are no phone masts, rarely any internet signal and you are forced to go at the speed of the boat, typically 10-15 knots, so there is no rushing around.

A client did once call just as the vessel was passing within a few miles of Heligoland, off the northern coast of Germany, but usually it’s a peaceful, uninterrupted break.

I have other more traditional ways of relaxing too. I volunteer at Ropery Hall, an arts centre in Barton-upon-Humber.

It’s a great little venue with fabulous performances most weekends. These have recently included Stuart Maconie, Jay Rayner, Paul Jones, China Crisis, Alan Carr and my personal favourite, comedian Rob Newman.

I’m also half way through a Creative Writing degree at the University of Hull. I think I’m about due for an honorary doctorate in Creative Housework Avoidance.