Outer Hebrides

Posted on behalf of Sarah ...

This was my first day out on the water and I was feeling optimistic. We’d spent a couple of hours watching from Tiumpan Head and witnessed a sky full of gannets gracefully circling above a distant group of feeding and splashing cetaceans. Dark, lumbering rain clouds drove us away from our boggy observation spot just in time for us to head into Stornoway to meet up with Tim. The sky cleared as we crossed the causeway to town and by the time we were underway and out of the harbour the sea was a moody metallic slick.

A neat pod of four porpoises gave me the first opportunity to test out our new GPS. As we rounded chicken rock and moved towards Bayble, where the Risso’s were last encountered (see previous blog entry!), the anticipation rose – it’s been 6 years since I’ve seen a Risso’s dolphin, during my last season of an intermittent 10 year stretch off Bardsey Island in Wales – I’ve never seen one with Scottish roots!

When Nicola and Tim simultaneously shouted ‘dolphins!’ my heart skipped a beat. There they were – at first one animal, and then another, and then as we approached, we soon realised that we had a dispersed group of about 14 feeding about us. Nicola set about the tough job of photo-identifying each of them and Tim expertly manoeuvred the boat from one group to the next without getting too close and without disturbing them from their brunch. I video recorded. We focused on the job at hand, being temporarily distracted with occasional distant breaches or head slapping on the surface of the water.



The group were spread out and often fluking up before they dove, indicating to us that they were feeding busily. A large number of the group were juveniles and there was also a young calf amongst them. They had plenty of character. One animal swam along side us with sea weed across it’s saddle and another leisurely approached us head on from behind and swam right underneath us, exposing their white belly, before disappearing into the depths. On a more serious note, one dolphin had a nasty raw wound on the leading edge of her fin.







Tim thought he recognised an individual from his surveys 10 years ago, sending a shiver down my spine and confirming the value of our research. Risso’s return to Lewis from deep offshore Atlantic waters every year to feed in these sheltered and warmer (although still cold!) waters.

We left them and continued around to the Peninsula in search of the dolphins we had been unable to confirm the identity of on land. As we moved out into the exposed waters of the Minch the swell became long and lolloping and the wavelets increased in size. We were briefly joined by shearwaters, fulmars, gannets and the occasional storm petrol (an old favourite of mine).

But we found nothing out there and after some searching were soon drawn back into the sheltered waters of the coastline further south. We encountered Risso’s again at the far end of the braighe (the bay created by the causeway connecting the peninsula to the larger island). Nicola called out that she recognised some individuals from our earlier encounter, but there were some newbies in the pod too, which was almost entirely made up of juveniles this time – a nursery group! They still appeared to be feeding but they were much more tightly grouped and surface active than earlier. As one individual tail slapped repeatedly on the surface, others in the group headed in their direction and they swam in formation.





The light was beginning to fade and Nicola had captured a photo-id shot of as many animals (and each side) dorsal as possible. We decided to head for home after a productive and rewarding days work. These Scottish Risso’s do not disappoint and we’re hoping for more of the same tomorrow – when hopefully we will find the adults too.

And as long as those clothes include waterproofs and wind-buffetting gear then you'll be fine ... !!

It had to happen eventually ... we knew it wasn't going to last ... the weather broke, and quite spectacularly at that! Severe weather warnings were issued for the island, ferries cancelled and anything not tethered down or heavy enough to withstand the approaching gale force winds taken indoors! We were in for some brutal conditions but thankfully, the rain proved not to be a constant companion to the wind and we've been spending our time investigating the many cliff-tops and beaches of Lewis ... sometimes at an angle of less than 90 degrees as we battled the invisible force that kept trying to knock us off our feet!

Although the conditions at sea (big swell, white-caps as far as the eye could see, huge breakers on the shore) made it virtually impossible to see too much out in the deep blue, the avian life-forms that ruled the skies were adept at keeping us entertained. The usual suspects were out in force including gannets, shags, fulmars, guillemots and various species of gull. (Noteworthy is the annual hunt for fledgling gannets, called 'Guga', that has recently begun on an island (technically a large rock) 40 miles north of Lewis called Sulasgeir, one of the most important breeding grounds for gannets, with some 9000 breeding pairs. In the autumn of each year, villagers from Ness in the north-west of Lewis set sail for the rock to kill around 2,000 young gannets (or guga) to bring home to feast upon. Special dispensation written into the 1954 Wild Birds Protection Act by a Statutory Order allows this practice to continue today - guess we won't be seeing many fledgling gannets then!)

There were also the less frequently seen species like the skuas (who were honing their piracy skills to the detriment of the other birds), the Arctic and common terns (who were rather vocal), a white-tailed sea-eagle or two and a rather lost looking greylag goose who tried to befriend us on the beach! We also spied shearwaters and the teeny weeny storm petrels - how they manage to make their way this far north from the Antarctic is a mystery. We were also lucky enough to meet two of the islands visitors, 'Mr and Mrs Hooper Swan'. Having made one of the many inland lochs their summer home, their long necks and striking colouration of their beaks made them impossible to mistake for the more regularly seen, mute swan!

Thankfully the storms soon blew themselves out and we were able to get back out and look for creatures of the flippered variety ... !! Although offshore, the sea still looked a little bit angry, the inshore seas were calm and with the turquoise green waters laid out beneath our cliff, we were able to watch a few porpoises (including a mother and calf) both above and below the water. Some of the sea-birds however (the fulmars in particular) took an aversion to us being there and were flying low over our heads, warning us not to get to close to their nests - not much chance of that as if we had, we'd have likely been in the process of falling off the cliff!

On the north-east coast of Lewis the road stops shortly after the "bridge to nowhere" but the hardy (possibly fool-hardy as it is a 'bog-walk' and like walking through treacle most of the time) can coastal walk all the way round to the Butt of Lewis on the north-east coast. We set off to investigate the first few miles of the walk but soon got distracted by more porpoises only metres from the shore, making the most of the calm conditions. We were also lucky enough to witness another amazing display by a "courting" basking shark as it launched itself clear out the water 3 times in a row - quite a spectacle! We are however considering other possible options for this behaviour as for courting to happen surely there needs to be someone (or someshark) to court? Each time we've seen this "breaching" behaviour there have been only the breaching individual in the vicinity! Perhaps they're just full of the joys of life ... island life seems to do that to you!

Posted on behalf of WDCS Canine Research Assistant, Kila

Hallelujah ... they have trees on this island!! Admittedly the sticks are not quite as free-ranging or of such a variety as they are back on the mainland but a stick is a stick ... is a stick is a stick no matter its size or creed (as any of you who have been to the pub with me will know!) and if there was one in the general vicinity, I'd find it - much like my humans and their 'creatures with fins'. I must say however that i feel i have been rather resourceful in the absence of 'wood' and have taken to seaweed and bits of old rope like the proverbial duck to water ... although saying that, i've seen more ducks on the road here than i have in the water; possibly the island equivalent of a speed camera? Certainly slows you down!

One thing there is a lot of around these parts are beaches .... not so many sheep i have to say, and those that are resident here are mostly behind those fence things (being an old-hand i've worked out that wire = no access to sheep, Harvey, being a 'newbie' has not quite grasped this concept yet and is still under the impression that he can get at them, he'll learn, i did) but there are a lot of rabbits ... and they're on the beach! But why wouldn't they be? Best place to be I say! Our humans however may tend to disagree as we've certainly spent countless more hours on the cliff behind the lighthouse than we have any any of the beaches

(I have been advised that i perhaps shouldn't call the lighthouse a dog 'jail', rather a dog 'hotel' where my fellow canines go for a holiday. I was only speaking my personal opinion as the one and only time i went to a 'hotel' i was miserable and got bullied by some of the other guests, and Harvey went once and ended up staying 2 whole years, so neither of us have much desire to go back. But if we did want to go to a 'hotel' then this one would be quite the spot, what a great view on your morning walks!)

But there's never a dull moment up there, for the humans at least, and the cries of 'harbour porpoise', ' minke whale', 'dolphins' (this one in particular seems to get them rather excited and engenders a lot of activity) are relatively frequent. Personally i think they're obsessed (I after all should know as i have been diagnosed with OSD, otherwise known as Obsessive Stick Disorder) as even a trip to the beach involves a 'oh look, there's a harbour porpoise or two' ... i mean really ... they're meant to be looking for sticks!





One beach walk in particular is worth a mention. The human 'newbie' (human Sarah had to go away for a week and we welcomed the arrival of an old friend; they're as obsessed with small bits of wood as i am only they claim it's all in the name of "chess", whatever that is ... but i think i'll find out cos if it involves sticks, hmmm, .... I'll get back to you on this chess thing, leave it with me!) took us for a bit of a wander on one of the most northern of Lewis beaches where we came across a very odd creature indeed, and not one that you would expect to find on land. It was none other than a basking shark, the 2nd largest fish in the world after the whale shark. Once hunted here is Scotland for its meat and oil they are now protected and this year has apparently been a bumper year with record numbers of sightings. This beach-cast chap however wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It wasn't immediately obvious what had caused the death of this individual although interestingly i couldn't find its tail, it may have been buried deep in the sand but it was conspicuous by its absence. Watching these animals from land one doesn't really appreciate the sheer size of them, they are massive, and i for one felt pretty small. I have to say as well that one of my fears has been lifted ... I thought "shark" meant big scary teeth but these guys feed on plankton, not dogs, phew!!





This has been my 3rd stranding as I've previously found a common dolphin on a beach in Cornwall and a northern bottlenose whale in a Loch near Fort William - it's all in the nose - and i'm considering floating the idea of a new TV show - "CSI Canine" - (Cetacean Strandings Investigation, with the odd shark thrown in for good measure) - i think it would be a hit, don't you?! The examination of stranded animals is very important indeed and scientists can learn a lot about these creatures from studying a dead animal. Did you know that there are a few species of cetacean (some of the beaked whales) that we only know about because of a few skeletal remains?

Putting my responsible hat on for just one moment i do want to note that if you do come across a dead marine animal then you should be very careful indeed as they can carry all sorts of diseases and the best thing to do is not to touch it and to inform the authorities or appropriate people - if you do touch it make sure you wash your hands (or paws) thoroughly. Here in Scotland you should call the strandings hotline on 01463243030 or e-mail stranding@sac.co.uk, or of course you could let me, CSI Special Agent Kila, know! Before you call it would be very useful to take some photos if you can and also note down the following information; 1) What do you think it is? - can you tell if it's a whale or a dolphin? can you tell the species?; 2) Where is it? - how accessible is it by road? is it at risk of being washed back out to sea with the next tide? (if so you could attempt to secure it above high-tide line, depending on the size of course); 3) What size is it? - wee or huge?; and 4) How fresh is it? - you can usually tell this by the smell!!

But finally, on a more positive note (for all the other basking sharks that is), not only are the seas around here proving to be full of food but it is thought that they are also ideal breeding grounds as displays of 'courtship behaviour' (like breaching; when the animal jumps clear out of the water) have been documented ... even by us, several times! My humans were actually quick enough to catch one such display on camera (albeit from a wee bit far away) as the animal in particular breached 3 times in a row, making quite a splash, and quite a noise when it landed back in the water! With so much activity out there hopefully there will be even more basking sharks here next year!

More from me soon ... until then, i'm off to the butchers as we've run out of bones!

Good weather had been forecast for the week-end and we were looking forward to some extended viewing hours on top of our cliff. As we know however, the weather appears to be one of the most difficult things to predict and when we arrived at our survey site not long after first light, we were greeted by strong, freezing winds, thick (but high) grey cloud cover yet an uninterrupted and magnificent view out across the expanse of the northern Minch. The mainland of Scotland was laid out in front of us in all her glory and we could see Cape Wrath in the distance, nothing with a fin was going to be getting past us ... unless the wind knocked the binoculars out of our hands that was!!

And the animals didn't disappoint, with feeding minkes close to shore throughout the day, busy little harbour porpoises popping up all over the place and hungry basking sharks swimming languidly at the surface for hours on end, the fact that we couldn't feel our fingers anymore and had brain-ache from the whistling wind faded into insignificance.

More good weather was forecast, but thankfully we didn't come to Lewis for the weather so we were prepared for another, not so perfect (as far as the conditions are concerned) day. If only we had known when we set out that morning just how spectacular a day it was going to be!!!

The wind had dropped significantly, the cloud cover was thinner and lifting by the hour and again our panoramic view out over the Minch was awe-inspiring. The morning hours brought us more feeding minkes (one in particular who appeared to spend most of the day going backwards and forwards in the same spot - obviously a good take-out down there), more harbour porpoises and yet more basking sharks ... nice to see we'd chosen such a popular spot as our field site.

Settling in for the afternoon i got the call that Risso's had been seen in the bay around the corner and Tim had already mustered the boat - nothing more valuable than an on-the-ball skipper! Within minutes i was all aboard and we headed off in search of what was to be my first encounter with Grampus griseus from the Isle of Lewis. The fin of a Risso's is of a substantial size (they have been mistaken for orca before) which thankfully makes sighting them a tad easier than say, harbour porpoises, with their small triangular fin. We soon found some animals and turned off the engine, 5 animals in total, initially fairly well dispersed, in inter-changing groups of 2's and 3's. More than one of them came to check us out, and on several occasions we had individuals under the boat or popping out the water close by taking a sneaky peek at the strange creatures on top of the water. I'm sure the Risso's were watching us watching them! For such large animals they can be fairly elusive when they want to be but at the same time, they can be incredibly inquisitive and rather acrobatic and today was one of those occasions when you got to see both behaviours. From "where have they gone" to "Wow, did you see that", it was a humbling (and fascinating) few hours spent in the company of these magnificent creatures.The encounter lasted only as log as the dolphins wanted it to and when they regrouped for the final time and started heading south, we bid them a farewell and did not follow.

The day however didn't only belong to the the Risso's. Throughout the afternoon the odd minke and a fair few harbour porpoises were spotted in the background, and the bird life around that day is worth a mention in its own right.

In Gairloch (our other field site on the west coast of the Scottish mainland, which is across the Minch and south a bit - on a good day we can see the northern extreme of that survey area) the sight of a Great Skua is something to be celebrated and we would count ourselves lucky if we saw a handful during our entire time in the field. Whilst out on the water here however, they were our constant companions, at one point we had 10 of them hanging around the boat. Usually relatively solitary birds, these great skuas were showing high levels of tolerance for each other. Either they were jealous of all the attention the Risso's were getting or they'd worked out that humans were the route to an easy meal.

And so we decided to reward their patience! As we had to wait out the tides to ensure safe passage back into harbour anyway (the recent new moon has been providing us with tidal ranges of up to 4.5m) the skipper embarked on a spot of fishing whilst i kept a beady eye on the surrounding water for more fins. To say the fish were biting was an understatement. The rod only had to be lowered into the water and the mackerel were throwing themselves at the line; reeling it in seconds later up to 4 fish were hooked at any one time. The tiddlers were thrown back in and given the chance to live another day, the larger ones were coming home with us for dinner!! The skuas made light work of the scraps we tossed over the side and even a brave little fulmar (little compared to the skuas) threw his hat into the brawl for food.







And it wasn't over yet .... As we were heading back in, we spotted a minke whale in the distance and were so focused on it that we almost missed the other one coming up under the boat. This smaller individual was obviously feeding as it was moving rapidly on the surface, changing direction quickly and lunging at its prey - it became apparent that we weren't the only ones to have discovered the value of this particular ground.





And then the rains came ..... but after a day like today, who cares?!!!

Back in the 1990s WDCS provided funding for the Western Isles Risso’s Dolphin Project on Lewis and studies then took place over a period of about 5 years - and now more than a decade later the studies recommence! With the advice and assistance of Tim Atkinson, one of the project investigators of the original surveys, we hope to collect some new and updated information about the Risso’s dolphins off the Eye Peninsula. This is important for a number of reasons, not least of all because there are less than a handful of sites in the world where Risso’s dolphins calve so close to shore and because Scotland is in the process of designating a network of marine protected areas by 2012, to meet its international obligations – and we think this population of Risso’s deserves to be included!

No population-level information is available on trends in abundance, incidental mortality rates or even the distributional range of the populations of Risso’s dolphins in Scotland or the UK. Risso’s dolphins are oceanic dolphins that feed primarily on squid, octopus and cuttlefish and seem predominantly to feed in deeper waters. They are often found around interesting topographical features, where productivity is enhanced by mixing waters, such as seamounts and escarpments. They also inhabit a few coastal sites where the continental shelf is narrow and close to shore, including here! Previous studies indicate that the waters around north Lewis, along with a few other sites on the west coast of Scotland (including Tiree, Coll and Ushinish Peninsula, South Uist) are important for Risso’s dolphins.



We haven’t seen any Risso’s yet (we’ve only been here a few days!) and the reports this year so far are few and far between. Results of the surveys 10 years ago showed that Risso’s dolphins are found offshore in deeper waters and in large groups between the months of May and July. In August and September, however, the dolphins regularly moved into coastal bays or near-shore in the waters around Stornoway, foraging on their own or in small groups. Tim and his colleagues built up a large catalogue of dorsal fins to identify individual animals that we hope to update and add to (scientists in the Ligurian Sea resighted a Risso’s dolphin from 15 years ago, how cool would it be if we could do the same thing!) – if we’re fortunate enough to find the animals… And so now we watch, cross our fingers and wait for them to turn up!

Our aim is to determine the significance of the coastal waters of Lewis for the Risso’s and all other cetaceans. We will collect basic land-based observation data from the headland on the Eye Peninsula, a favourite haunt of the dolphins of old, and we’ll collect opportunistic photo-identifications from small boats whenever the weather permits - which is not as often as we would like in these parts!

Besides the Risso’s there’s a diversity of marine life here that would be hard to beat anywhere else in the British Isles. From our headland vista, we’ve encountered locally breeding arctic and great skuas flying overhead, gannets dive bombing from north to south in the minch surrounding us and porpoises, common dolphins and basking sharks all feeding in the rich and productive waters. We’ve already had a minke whale surface so close to shore in front of us that we could hear it exhale and almost smelled its breath as it rose to the surface.

We’ve experienced the famous Hebridean winds over the last couple of days but these are set to drop for the next few days so we’re off to grab supplies and prepare to head out on the survey boat…