Gairloch

After a miserable week (weather wise of course!), we awoke to one of the most glorious days we’ve had yet! The sun was splitting the sky, not a cloud in sight and even the wind had abated slightly! Here was me thinking we’d have a lovely day of stick tossing and bog wallowing (found what I think is a great way to cool down at the bottom of the garden however I am assured by my humans that it’s not exactly clean – who cares, it cools me down!) and instead I was thrown into the back of the moving box and off we went to a fisheries conference which, surprise surprise, was all about fisheries……except for some lady who spoke about birds, a rather amusing gentleman called Duck who talked about sheep, I mean seals, and of course my human Sarah who talked about all the whales, dolphins and porpoises that they’ve been so fascinated with over the past month. I think I must state here that I am no longer under any illusion that us canines are their priority – very sad ?

(Human comment – “Not true!!”)

It wouldn’t have been too bad a day had someone not spent the session before lunch talking about Nephrops (otherwise known as Langoustine, Dublin Bay prawns, scampi – so many names…..but it all tastes the same!!). What a cruel thing to do…. especially as we didn’t even get to taste them….not sure I want to go to another one of these things! I spent the rest of the time dreaming of being on the beach and luckily my humans picked up on this and we soon went for a frisbee throwing session and a swim at the beach (and a quick stop at my new favourite shop – the butchers) before coming home to apparently go back “on-effort” – read as stick throwing and bog-wallowing for me and spotting for them! My humans have asked to interject at this point with some updates of their own so I’ll let them waffle on and be back to finish off the blog in a moment!

Thank-you Kila…..

As this field season comes to an end we have some news we want to share with you. We’ve successfully managed to retrieve the T-Pod (so a big thank-you goes out to Ewen for preparing the weight for us – it worked and we didn’t lose it!! – and to Ian for helping to both deploy and retrieve it).



We’ve since found out that although from our experience here we’d believe that cuckoos are plentiful, they are in fact becoming worryingly rare. We’ve already noted our sightings on the Springwatch website (www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch) and if you happen to hear or see any then please do the same.

We’ve also been keeping a special watch for the return of the Arctic Skua as we’ve been told they arrive with the terns, which we’ve been seeing for the past week or so but it wasn’t until today, our last day, that we witnessed this avian treat.



On our return from the fisheries workshop this afternoon, we were delighted to come across a pod of at least 12 common dolphins in Loch Gairloch. We thought we’d ended our month of surveys with a splash! But no, on starting a 6pm watch from our observation point, we were treated to a barrage of sightings – 3 basking seals, 2 pairs of porpoises, some possible dolphins (we lost them in the glare) and 3 minke whales. So we actually ended the survey with a blow!

Nicola is off to the Moray Firth for more field work in a week or so, so keep your eye on the field blog as hopefully we’ll have a lot more to tell you from the (north) eastern side of Scotland… and we’ll see you back in Gairloch in September…!



And now back to Kila……

It appears to be all over up in this neck of the woods and we’re packing up and getting ready to go…..! It’s been a tiring few weeks for me but full of fun and I’m looking forward to coming back already!! Perhaps next time I’ll finally get a hold of one of those dastardly sheep, the lambs that I met when we arrived last month are looking more edible by the day.

Oh…and apparently there’s a chance I’ll be in the Moray Firth too so perhaps I’ll speak to you from there!! Although that trip involves boats and I’ve not really got my sea-legs yet…..gulp!!

Bottlenose dolphins are the only species of whale or dolphin to have a protected area in the whole of Scotland. This area is in the Moray Firth and is in place to protect the 130 dolphins that make up the population that lives off the northeast coast of Scotland but have been known to roam down as far as Newcastle.

On the west coast however bottlenose dolphins are far fewer in number. A small group of around 40 live around the Island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides and another group of 15 or so animals moves around the Hebrides, favouring the waters off Mull, Kintyre, Skye – and, from time to time, Gairloch! Others make up offshore populations, although due to their penchant for deeper waters, very little is known about them.

We were privileged indeed to see this pod of dolphins (on three different occasions in as many days) a couple of weeks ago. The pod contained two young calves, still with their foetal folds, so relatively new members of this family group, what a joy! As we told you in a previous blog, we sent our photos to Barbara at Aberdeen University’s Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty for her to compare our dorsal fin photographs with those in the Scottish bottlenose dolphin catalogue – and a huge thanks goes out to her for being so quick to get back to us and for finding our matches within the group of animals known to move around the islands!

Barbara has identified up to 8 recognisable animals from our pod of 12 – 15 dolphins. And remember – all of our photographs were taken from the shore. Ok, Nicola has a camera with a Very Long Lens!! But we’re really pleased that we managed to get some photo-id’s from land. We even photographed some animals from both sides, as they traveled south and later returned to the north!

In one really special finding – we photographed a dolphin with one of the young calves – and Barbara has said that it may be her first, as she hasn’t been seen with a calf before. How lovely!

Despite there being so few bottlenose dolphins off the west coast, they currently have no formal protection. We want this to change. In fact, it’s because there are so few dolphins that they really need protecting! The bottlenose dolphins on this coast are entitled to the same protection that those in the Moray Firth already enjoy and we’re calling on the UK and Scottish governments to provide this protection.

Iceland doesn’t seem that far away to us as we sit in the northwest corner of Scotland and listen to the Stornoway coastguard reporting on the offshore weather forecast every day. However, in another way we are worlds apart. Iceland has begun its whaling season. We wished them rough seas - but they weren’t rough enough. The first minke whale was killed yesterday outside Faxafloa. He was 8 metres in length.

The wind and the rain here give us plenty of time to contemplate the fate of the Icelandic minke whales. And the fatality caused by the whalers harpoon. And although the minke whales that we are watching in the Minch face threats of a different kind, none are so cruel or unnecessary as the finality of the weapon that penetrates deep into the chased minke whale and surely causes a slow and painful death.

Please visit our home page for more information: www.wdcs.org.uk

This tragic news from Iceland really brings it home to us how privileged we are to spend time studying these amazing whales. During our survey this month we have so far observed 12 minke whales (and we’re hoping for more before we leave on Saturday!). More people are visiting Scotland and tourism continues to increase despite the recession. Minke whales have an important and much welcome role to play in this boom. Why not follow in our footsteps and experience the beauty of Scotland and its marine inhabitants for yourselves….and the birds ain’t bad either!

They say it’s a sign of getting old when you get obsessed by the weather but it’s also a trait of us cetacean researchers – so forgive the constant meteorological updates but it’s kind of all consuming at times! The varying (but awfully nice…gentle on the ears kind of sounding) voices of the Stornoway coastguards are our regular link to the Met Office, although it is rather general as the Minch is lumped in with everywhere from South Uist to the Butt of Lewis, which if you know the area (or get a map) will know that this is a rather large area. But they tend to be fairly spot on and of course the lilting utterances are compelling so we’ll stick with them for the time being! (We do of course check other weather forecast sources, like for example the good old BBC – although I have to say that there does tend to be a wee bit of biased towards that place called England when it comes to their maps….I know there’s a lot less people up here but we do still care if its going to rain or shine).

Well it’s been porpoises a-plenty of late, although interestingly we’re only seeing them in groups of one, possibly two individuals at a time. Always close to shore and as cryptic as ever, hiding behind waves and wavelets, they’re not fussy! After some discussions and much brow-furrowing, we can update you on the reason for the porpoise behaviour noted in a previous blog…..the animals in question were calving!! Witnessing a porpoise birth, quite an honour!

The odd seal has also been spotted sunning itself on the surface, both grey and common, although not in any great number but I’m guessing that’s not what the fish farmers will say!!

After a few days of none, we were treated to a minke whale this evening, its graceful and languid roll as it broke the surface, leaving hardly a wake behind it before it ventured off into the deep in search of dinner. And with the arrival of the infamous midges the red deer are on the move. On up to higher ground to escape the wee biting bugs…..smart thinking if you ask me!



Another few updates for you now: -
1) The pictures from our bottlenose dolphin encounters are now with the team (also known as Barbara) at the University of Aberdeen’s Lighthouse Field Station for comparison with the catalogue from the Moray Firth.
2) I’ve finally managed to spot that elusive and vocal (I appear to have a things about voices today, I do apologise) cuckoo…..however both times I’ve been without a camera so have no proof – take my word for it…please! The second time he/she was minding its own business sitting on a fence post singing away, when it was ambushed by a bunch of “wee brown birds” (remember, ornithologist I am not) dive-bombing its head and nipping its tail.
3) Kila’s secret ecosystem has been discovered by us humans and we’re hoping the tick problem is finally under control. We also had the unenviable task of removing a slow-worm from her the other day.
4) As far as we know the T-Pod (acoustic equipment) is still there!

And with this we shall leave you…..with another stunning Hebridean sunset….Enjoy!

After a spell of weather that allowed great spotting conditions earlier in the week, our field equipment hasn’t seen much action in the last few days. We took drastic action and went out on the water for an hour to deploy some acoustic equipment (successfully we hope, but more of this in a later blog!).

The water was a little choppy. The sun streaming through the clouds and over the imposing mountains that backdrop Gairloch made for a photogenic trip. We were treated to our first fly by - a great skua that appeared right alongside the boat, and flew back and forth between us and a fishing boat. Shortly after, a fulmar passed by and then settled on the water behind us.





I was excited by the low flying terns (memories of voyages to the Antarctic and seeing them there having just completed their incredible journeys across oceans) and then we had a low flying fast moving shag!





We had our fingers crossed for a puffin but it wasn’t to be. However we weren’t disappointed to get a close up view of small groups of both resting razorbills and guillemots. They are much easier to tell apart from the boat than they are at such a distance from our survey platform on the shore! They were all a real pleasure to see.





Following the press release on the Joint Warrior minke whale incident that went out last week (which you’ve all read of course!), we conducted an interview at the local radio station, 2 Lochs Radio, the smallest radio station in the UK, but hopefully with a large following!

On a different note we had a wildlife encounter of an unusual kind… Our top canine research assistant has a taste for big fat juicy carrots (Yes, it does seem like a bizarre favourite for a big white german shephard!). So there are a variety of orange nub ends lying around the garden. We were at first surprised to see a very small and acrobatic black rabbit in the garden of an evening. But there’s no prize for guessing what is attracting it… Watching it flip and jump around the garden is just as sweet (and a bit hilarious!) as watching Kila contentedly munching on the subject of both their happiness.