Michael Scott is now largely retired from a freelance career as a natural history writer and broadcaster and is taking every opportunity to explore the world as a guest speaker on cruise ships, anywhere from Svalbard to Antarctica (including the warm places in between). His talks cover wildlife and the environment, always relating directly to the areas the cruise is visiting, and his aim is to help passengers get the very best experience from their cruise. His wife, Sue (a marine biologist), often accompanies him on cruises, and Michael and Sue both regard 'deck time', helping passengers spot and identify seabirds, whales, dolphins and other wildlife as an important part of their role on the ship. Their partnership on deck is always much appreciated and enjoyed by passengers.

In recent years, Michael has worked mainly with Viking Ocean Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, but, as with everyone, coronavirus paused those associations. Since then he has returned to a busy schedule with Viking and RSCC, and has a full vaccination certificate. He is always happy to consider future bookings, particularly to wildlife-rich areas such as northern Europe, the Arctic, Atlantic islands, Alaska, South America etc. To see a full list of the 90+ cruises on which Michael has worked as a guest speaker to date - and a list of all future cruise bookings - please check his website at www.mmscott.co.uk.

Michael is a botanist by training, but with a general interest in all natural history. His books for adults include the “Collins Guide to Scottish Wild Flowers”, a walks guide to Cape Town, written with wife Sue, and "Mountain Flowers", published in August 2017 by Bloomsbury Books in the "British Wildlife Collection". He contributed to Dorling Kindersley volumes on “Oceans” (along with Sue), “The Natural History Book” and was lead author on "Trees". Children’s books include “The Young Oxford Book of Ecology”, and “Amazing Plants”. He writes regularly for “British Wildlife” magazine, and formerly contributed to natural history programmes on BBC Radio 4. He lives with Sue in the north-west Highlands of Scotland.

Michael is a former Deputy Chairman of the government conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, and was awarded an OBE ("Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Enpire") in 2005 “for services to biodiversity conservation in Scotland”.

Michael has available a range of over 60 tailored talks on the natural history and environment of ports of call and areas visited on individual cruises, including Norway, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Madeira, The Canaries, Cape Verde, the Mediterranean, Arabia and the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, North and South America, South Atlantic islands (including Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha), South Africa, Australia, New Zealand etc. Please ask for suggested titles relating to any particular cruise.

Other typical talks that Michael can offer:-

1. The Cruise Ship Advantage: Watching Seabirds at Sea (note: talk will be adapted to region visited)

2. Spotting Whales and Dolphins on our cruise (note: talk will be adapted to region visited)

3. Amazing Plants

4. Whales, Dolphins and the Cruising Naturalist

5. From the Arctic to the Rock Garden

6. The Allure of Mountain Flowers.

7. But really why don't Polar Bears eat Penguins (on appropriate cruises)

8. Climate Change: A Scientist's Perspective

AND a regular feature of Michael's cruises, which is always popular with passengers, is a "Highlights" talk on some of the wildlife (and other features of interest) that Michael has seen on that particular cruise, illustrated with his own photos from the trip.

I have been delighted to share my enthusiasm for wildlife and the natural world as a regular guest speaker on cruise ships since 2005. In that time, I have clocked up 98 cruises (as of June 2023) to most parts of the world (see my website at https://www.mmscott.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=451338 for the full list). Between 2015 and the onset of Covid, I completed 25 cruises for Regent Seven Seas Cruises (booked directly from their offices in Miami), with my talks covering a mix of destinations and wildlife themes. The company has now changed its enrichment programme to focus more on locally 'embedded' experts, somewhat limiting my horizons with them!

In response, I have been lucky enough to greatly increase my engagement with the excellent speakers programme on board Viking Ocean Cruises. Up until the start of lockdown in 2019, I had completed 7 cruises for them (including their maiden ocean voyage), but since then I enjoyed 12 cruises with them in 2021 and 2022, and am booked with them for 11 spectacular cruises in 2023 (plus one with Regent). I am therefore fully booked for 2023, and well booked for 2024, although I might squeeze in one or two more cruises in 2024. I am keen to start booking for 2025, whenever cruise companies are ready to consider enrichment speakers for that year.

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.