WDCS Fieldwork Blog

We've managed to capture some of our marine friends on film this time. Here's a small taster of what we have been seeing:

A couple of harbour porpoises from a big pod of 12 foraging in Loch Erisort.
A basking shark feeding.
Bottlenose dolphins off Tiumpan Head.
Common dolphins from the research boat, outside Stornoway Harbour.
A mixed group of Risso’s and bottlenose dolphins off Tiumpan Head near Stornoway.

Written on behalf of Kila, WDCS Canine Research Assistant.

I heard the words "bird blog" being uttered by the humans and decided it was time to step in and take matters (blog matters that is) into my own paws. Those flying things are all very well, and it has to be said, quite attractive at times, but … i thought perhaps you'd rather hear from me (and my trusty assistant) and what we've been up to since our last post! (If the weather stays as rubbish as it has been, there will be plenty of time for those feathered critters to make an appearance!)

There was one condition to me being allowed to write the next blog, i have to mention the humans last expedition out on the water where they had a rather spectacular encounter with some 20+ harbour porpoises. Apparently they're usually very skittish and camera shy (unlike us!) and getting up close and personal with them is a rare event. So … humans went out on the boat, saw some porpoises, took some pictures, and were very happy! (That enough? Shall we move on? Oh ok … here's some photos for you!)

Anyway, back to the things that really matter to us canines!! Beaches - and the hunt for driftwood, although it has to be said that we've both become rather fond of seaweed of late, there is after all an abundance of it, as opposed to sticks, of which there are few



We've decided to rename this island the "Land of the disappearing beaches" … it's all rather confusing if truth be known. Let me explain - on one of our favourite beaches we're used to having a vast expanse of sand to play on and a very long run down to the water (which does somedays seem to get longer and longer?), then, all of a sudden, we turned up for our usual "walk" only to find the beach had gone! Completely! Not a bit of sand in sight!! As you can imagine we were quite perturbed. The humans tried to explain to us … apparently it's something to do with "Spring" tides, which confuses us even more because we were of the opinion that it was autumn?? But "Spring" tides are the opposite of "Neap" tides … although again i'm confused because i'm not entirely sure what turnips have to do with anything, and i've certainly not found any tatties (potatoes to the non-Scot!) on the beach … all of which reminds me, where's our Haggis?!?





We've been assured that things will get back to normal soon, and in the meantime we've been venturing further afield to visit some of the islands other beaches which don't appear to be affected quite as much!





On one such visit to a "new" beach we were in for a bit of a surprise (well the humans weren't because they'd already been pre-warned by their friend Martin who works for the RSPB but no-one told us)! Harvey and i have become quite the "sniffer-dog" team and have a good track record of finding unusual things on our expeditions (to date we've found a basking shark, Risso's dolphin, white-beaked dolphin, a huge jellyfish and lots of rubbish) but this one took the biscuit - although i do hope he gives it back, we like our biscuits! - and had some really sharp teeth (guess that's how he got the biscuit then?) so although it was sad to find out that he was dead … we possibly wouldn't have ever seen one of his kind alive!! He was … a blue shark! Quite a find i'm told, and rather unusual to have one washed ashore … poor thing. It does make me think twice about skipping into the water but i'm told that his kind don't usually venture into shallow waters so technically we should be safe! And anyway … one must accept that when one dips one's paw into the sea, one has entered an alien environment and is at the mercy of all the creatures that live there!!





The humans continue to hope for good "spotting" weather and today was looking promising so we headed off to the "Head" to see if there were any critters about. Unfortunately those "monster midges" were out in force and Harvey and i thought (and hoped) that our time there was to be short-lived … how wrong were we? A lone Risso's dolphin was spotted swimming back and forth, and every now and then throwing itself clear of the water (perhaps they have marine midgies that it was trying to escape?) and despite being bitten almost constantly (it's like having someone throw pins at you!) the humans decided that they (and us!) had to grin and bear it, at least until the pain became unbearable!!





Right, now my blog is written and i've updated you on the goings on out here on the Western Isles, i'm off to see if they fancy getting out and about for some more fresh air as you never know what our next walk will bring!!

Until the next time … woof!