Entries by Sarah Dolman

It’s been a challenging few weeks as we have been subjected to gale force wind ... wind ... and even more wind. But it’s when times are the toughest that the gems sparkle the brightest and we have had some real corkers in the small weather windows available to us!

In an earlier blog we introduced you to a pod of bottlenose dolphins that we had encountered on several of our surveys last month. It would appear that the pod have been hanging about and foraging close to the coast. Apparently surprisingly for some, bottlenose dolphins are not considered common in these parts, however we have encountered them two out of the three years that we have spent surveying here. When we came across them most recently off Tiumpan Head this week, they were in the mood to spend some time with us. Any doldrums that had been brought on by weeks of high winds were quickly forgotten. There were three youngsters in the pod and Nicola immediately recognised one of the distinctive females (with quite a large mark at the base of her dorsal fin) and her young calf as we had seen them a month ago on one of our earlier boat surveys. The young calf appears to be doing incredibly well! The foetal folds were still visible on the sides of its body as it leapt clear of the water beside us with the sun shining behind it, but they were much reduced and it was almost twice the size as when we last saw it! Life must be good off the east coast of Lewis

Pretty quickly we realised that mixed in amongst the group was a startlingly white adult Risso’s dolphin! This individual, with a much bigger dorsal fin and different surfacing behaviour, was mixing with the bottlenoses like a trusted old friend and was behaving just like a bottlenose, even riding on the wake of the survey boat briefly. We watched it travel alongside the boat, beneath the water (and surfacing much less regularly than the bottlenose dolphins), but its startling white colour gave its presence away below the surface.




We got photographs of their dorsal fins and recorded the times that they were close to our acoustic equipment, hoping that we will be able to hear and differentiate between them and then we left and let them be.

As if that encounter wasn’t heart pounding enough, we soon came across a wibbly-wobbly finned sunfish in the shallows off Bayble, in the heart of our survey area!




We took advantage of a reducing sea towards the end of the day to retrieve the first of our four acoustic devices that we deployed in June. They sit quietly in the water and wait for a porpoise or a dolphin to pass and then they spring into life and record any dolphin chit chat. Not only did we find a couple of spider crabs and a squat lobster on our ropes but we got 100 days of lovely dolphin and porpoise chatter!!



And as if all that excitement wasn’t enough, we were on our way back to the harbour (dodging the rainy squalls) when the glint of a true slimy sea monster - an 8 metre basking shark [yes, EIGHT METRES long!] - was spotted by our eagle-eyed skipper. This gentle giant was busily feeding in the rushing tide, in front of a beautiful fat and colourful rainbow that settled on the surface of The Minch. He was much bigger than our survey boat!



Although autumn feels like it has arrived here and the auks and skuas are much fewer in number, gannets still dive around us on the water and The Minch is clearly still full of life. We arrived back on dry land with big smiles on our faces and our spirits restored – and ready for the next watery adventure!

We (WDCS researchers Nicola and Sarah along with our able Canine Research Assistants, Kila and Harvey) have returned to the magical Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland for 8 weeks of field work in search of Risso’s dolphins and other marine megafauna – and we have received a warm and watery welcome!

Yesterday was our first land-based survey day and we were treated to two minke whales, a harbour porpoise and a sunfish sighting from our beautiful lighthouse vista at Tiumpan Head on the Eye Peninsula (To be honest, the sunfish looked more like a plastic bag when we first spotted it as it didn’t have the typical ‘sailing’ fin – but after closer inspection, and gauging its speed through the water, we were confident as to what it was!)

Today the forecast led us to believe that it might be good enough weather to venture out in the boat - and the forecast was mostly right, we only got a wee bit soggy! Our porpoise friends lived up to their name in Loch Erisort where they actually came ‘porpoising’ out of nowhere, puffing their way repeatedly past and under the boat.

We left the low and ominous clouds that were hanging over Lewis behind us and headed out into the Minch, and south towards the Shiant Islands. As we ploughed through the turbulent water of the East Shiants Bank, we passed a colourful puffin on the water, a few guillemots, two large rafts of some hundred odd juvenile kittiwakes, many young flying gannets and our old friends the bonxies (skuas) who came alongside to check us out.

The Shiant Islands themselves didn’t disappoint. How could they? It’s been very dry on the Western Isles for several months (of course the rain has started now that we have arrived!) and the grassy slopes above the scree are brown and autumnal. After a brief pause to admire the basking grey seals that were lazily watching us from the water, we decided to try and beat the dark and foreboding black clouds home.





We made good progress as the tide was now with us until Lewis, our skipper (let’s not get confused with the island now!), shouted “dolphins ahead!” We had heard that common dolphins had been spending the last few weeks in this stretch of water and we were delighted that they had found us. Let the Dolphin Olympics commence!






Performing world-class acrobatics, they were with us in no time. Bow-riding and leaping all around us, especially in the wake at the aft of the boat, these dolphins put on a display worthy of a gold medal or three. Speedy though they were, we counted about 25 dolphins including a very young calf and three other small animals. What a great start to our field season!

We had an unexpectedly glorious day on the water today and saw first-hand what many had been telling us over the past few days since our arrival – that this was already a good year for wildlife in the Minch!

A virtual carpet of sitting guillemots led us up to Tolsta Head in the north of our study area. Here we were greeted by a swirling mass of high flying gannets, young and old, who were diving and feeding successfully on a huge shoal of fish. Tiny little white-bottomed storm petrels flitted about on the waters’ surface between them and our first minke whale lunged through the middle of the whole giant feast. It was a true spectacle and a wonderful welcome back to the Minch!

On our way to visit the local harbour seal haul out site, a solitary colourful puffin flew past, another reminder of the diversity of life in the Minch. Scottish harbour seal populations are suffering terrible declines throughout large parts of Scotland, but the decline in the Western Isles is slow but gradual. We’re pleased to report that there were many young pups in the group we observed.




As if that wasn’t enough excitement for the day, we were thrilled when our boat skipper, Lewis, pointed out an otter, completely unaware of us and munching heartily on a tasty looking wrasse. And then there was another - our first ever pair of otters on Lewis!




In addition to all these incredible encounters, we successfully deployed our first piece of acoustic equipment for 2012 and we retrieved another that had been sat in Loch Erisort monitoring porpoise movements over the winter.

We think our second summer here on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles, Scotland has been a big success, but you can judge for yourself! Here’s a quick summary of everything we have seen in the last 7 weeks.

The first list shows all the animals that we recorded from our land-based watching site at Tiumpan Head. The second list shows all the animals that we recorded during the time we spent out on the boat… not bad for quite a wet and windy summer, eh..?

Land-based sightings from Tiumpan Head
Species (Groups)
Fin or sei whale (1)
Minke whale (5)
Risso’s dolphin (4)
Common dolphin (2)
Bottlenose dolphin (1)
Harbour porpoise (7)
Unidentified dolphin (too far to identify) (7)
Grey seal (2)
Basking shark (2)


..



Sightings during boat surveys
Species (Groups)
Minke whale (1)
Risso's dolphin (3)
Common dolphin (4)
Harbour porpoise (36)
Grey seal (15)
Seal (1)
Basking shark (2)
Sun fish (1)
Unidentified dolphins (2)

2010 was a bumper year for many species (as least when we were here in August and September), including basking sharks and Risso’s dolphins, so we are a little disappointed that we didn’t see more of these species in 2011. But we did encounter some of the same Risso’s dolphins as we saw last year. Excitingly, we also saw a female with a young calf who was seen here in 2004 by our colleague Dr Weir.

We had our first identifiable harbour porpoise, imaginatively (and affectionately) known as Scratchy.



We also had a mixed group of Risso’s dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, our first sun fish and more beautiful rainbows than is surely possible, due to the rain.. and more rain.. and more rain..!





Also, we have retrieved 3 of our 6 acoustic C-PODs and we have taken a sneaky peek and have GREAT porpoise and dolphin data on them!

And the most important thing we would like to do now that we have packed up our equipment and rushed off for the ferry back to the mainland at the crack of dawn... We’d like to say a BIG thank you to everyone on Lewis who made our surveys possible, and endlessly more enjoyable. Some of these folks include: Lewis at Hebrides Fish n’ Trips, Martin Scott at RSPB, Iain and Roddy at SNH, Tony Marr, Janet Marshall and a mighty shout out goes to Ruaraigh and the fishermen who helped us to deploy and retrieve our acoustic equipment.

We would also like to thank DEFRA and Elite Couriers for funding, as well as SNH and Fish n’ Trips for in-kind support of the project.
More from us in June 2012! Until then, we wish our colleagues on Bardsey Island in North Wales the best of weather for the rest of their survey! Please
keep an eye out for their next blog.. And in the mean time, some pretty pictures to end on..

This blog is reporting from the Isle of Lewis! In our efforts to find out where these pesky UK Risso’s dolphins are hanging out, we are currently running projects (and so blogging) simultaneously on Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland and Bardsey Island in North Wales...

It’s been a stormy field season with few opportunities to get out on the water. But when we have made it out in the boat, we have always been pleased with the variety of species that we’ve encountered in the Minch. And today was no exception!

The conditions were promising for a full day out and we were anxious to make the most of what currently seems like a rare opportunity! We’d seen Risso’s and common dolphins during our land-based surveys yesterday and the day before, and so we were doubly hopeful! Once out of the harbour, our survey began with the increasingly familiar groups of surface active porpoises racing and foraging in the mouth of Loch Erisort. Porpoises rock!

We ventured out into the north Minch, and into the long and lolloping swell - a remnant of the storms we’ve just experienced. It wasn’t long before we were joined by a pod of common dolphins. They always seem keen for a ride on the bow and in the wake, and this small family of six animals, including a mother and her calf, didn’t disappoint! Our only problem was photographing them as they were rushing through the waves so quickly!





They followed alongside us for quite a while, jumping and peering up at us (what are they thinking when they do that..?), before getting back to their usual business. We moved on and a basking grey seal looked up at us from his watery home (disapprovingly, I might add).



And as we travelled on, it wasn’t too much longer before we came across two more common dolphins – big animals this time (or at least big for common dolphins!). They checked us out briefly before disappearing into the deep swell.

Suddenly there was a lot of disturbance and young and older gannet activity as we passed Tiumpan Head. So we turned in to more coastal waters and into the entrance of Broad Bay, where the swell was much gentler. Before long we were part of a mammoth feeding frenzy – with puffing harbour porpoises all around, a small (3 metre) basking shark heading our way and diving gannets all feasting on a shimmering shoal of herring sprats! The herring were like raindrops on the surface of the water, all around us.



It was great to be a part of a feast that we have now seen several times in this part of Broad Bay whilst watching from our land-based observation site at Tiumpan Head! What a sight – which you can enjoy in the video – again, the wonky camera footage is due to the swell. I promise!

After collecting all the data we needed, we turned around. On our way home we collected one of our six acoustic devices (called a C-POD) - after a bit of a search! We can’t wait to download the data (ok, I’m a bit nervous…) to see whether we have lots of porpoise and dolphin recordings! No Risso’s but a great day out on the water..

We grabbed some mackerel (although it took a few dips of the fishing rod it has to be said!) and shared them with the last of the ‘bonxies’ or great skuas (it’s amazing to see them eat a fish of such a size!) - before they headed to Africa and we headed for home!!