Entries by Sarah Dolman

Sometimes I think we are mad, studying dolphins in the windy blowy gusty west coast of Scotland. But we’ve not completely lost our marbles! Yes, we spend countless hours sitting on headlands waiting for the sea mist to burn off, for the rain to stop, for the white caps to subside as the wind drops OR for a bit more wind to get rid of the midgies (!), but we also have a Plan B…

.. And as we’ve had a few windy days, we’re going to tell you about it!

With the assistance of a few helpful fishermen and the Stornoway Scottish Natural Heritage office, we have deployed a number of acoustic devices off the coast from the most northerly tip of Lewis at the Butt down to Kebbock Head just south of Stornoway (the capital of the Western Isles). These ingenious light-weight devices are called PODs (originally designed as POrpoise Detectors, but now very capable of detecting dolphins too). PODs are better than field researchers in that they are not weather dependent and they can collect data for 24 hours a day (unlike us!) Luckily they can’t take photo-identifications, and our batteries don’t run out, so we still have a role!

PODs are fully automated, static, passive acoustic monitoring systems that detect porpoises and dolphins by recognising the echo-location clicks the animals make to detect their dinner, find their way around and interact with each other (www.chelonia.co.uk). The PODs can tell us which areas porpoises and dolphins favour.





Harbour porpoises vocalise at very high frequencies and their foraging clicks are easy to understand on our PODs. Whilst dolphins are also typically vocal animals, the different species are very difficult to distinguish – and so far since we arrived here on the Isle of Lewis we have seen common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and Risso’s. There have also been sightings of orcas in the Minch, but not in our patch - yet!



Minke whales are a different kettle of fish – so to speak! Their vocalisations remain little understood. It’s most likely that they are communicating when they are mating elsewhere over the winter, but we don’t know if or how much they communicate when foraging in Scottish waters over the summer months. So we remain dependent on our eyes (and sometimes ears - pphff!) to find Scotland’s most coastal visitors.

Before we leave, we will retrieve our PODs and hope that, after a summer spent bobbing beneath the waves recording the vocalisations of the dolphins, they will help us to unravel which are the favoured habitats of the dolphins and porpoises – which can ultimately lead to better protection.

It’s been a mixed week as far as the weather has been concerned. We’ve been putting our wet weather gear on and packing our sun cream (and ginger nuts), only to be stopped in our tracks by increasing wind or rain or both. But there have been less windy moments, and we’re getting better at judging when to barricade ourselves into the field bothy so as to avoid the midgies!

Our focus is on demonstrating that the Western Isles of Scotland is important habitat that Risso’s dolphins return to year on year. More background information can be found in last years blog. However we also collect data for all other marine species we encounter and where others are working on conservation projects, we will forward this on. A friend up in Ness in the far north of the island sent us photos of a pod of bottlenose dolphins seen there last Friday. This is a species that we encountered off Gairloch off the north-west mainland of Scotland in previous years but not yet here off Lewis…

From our land-based site at Tiumpan Head yesterday we enjoyed our second sighting of Risso’s dolphins since we arrived. We first noticed them because of the breaching animals in front of the lighthouse. We saw fins that were big and typically distinctive and we could see blunt white heads below the surface of the water as they came up to breathe, and so we had no doubt about their identification. But who were those little fellows mixed in with the group? Were they common dolphins – we thought they surely must be as they looked so small when side by side with the Risso’s and their fins were wee in comparison. But closer attention with the binoculars and some expertly taken photographs (!) confirmed that two cheeky bottlenose dolphins (with very white sides) had joined together with the five Risso’s - and they were having a very fun time jumping and splashing about in the shallow water just off the rocks below us!

Nicola made a quick call and soon after, Lewis our skipper brought his boat, RV ‘Fish n’ Trips’ to our slipway and we set off in search of the dolphins that we’d been watching just an hour before.





It was uncharacteristically glassy calm in the Minch, something we were becoming accustomed to on our jaunts out to sea! We came across a few harbour porpoises, which are always a joy to see and the west coast of Scotland is home to the highest densities of this species in the whole of Europe! A close encounter with a foraging minke whale at the entrance of Broad Bay, just past our land-based watching post, was very welcome too. Eventually we pootled along the coast on our way back to base and sighted our first boat-based basking shark since we arrived.





We hung back to give him some space and he followed his plankton dinner in our direction and circled around the boat, giving us incredible views of his enormous size (about 6 metres – longer than our research boat!), his shiny black dorsal and tail fins and his gigantic open mouth. We have heard that the basking sharks have not been seen in good numbers this year, so we were especially pleased to come across this gentle giant.





We then caught a few mackerel for our tea as the Calmac ferry passed ahead of us into Stornoway harbour and we arrived back at the slip way to fading light, tired and happy.

Today we were hoping for a full day out on the boat, but the winds tricked us again, blowing up earlier in the day than we’d anticipated. Plan B was to drive up to Tiumpan Head and this was not in vain. We watched masses of gannets feeding with two distant minke whales and then, a tail fluke came out of the water … a pod of 10 bottlenose dolphins were right in front of us where we had seen the mixed group of dolphins yesterday!





They were clearly feeding, surfacing periodically and often showing their tailstocks before diving down to the depths. They were very difficult to follow, but soon we could see that the pod contained a new calf (with foetal folds!) and a juvenile.





We were enjoying the spectacle and trying to get photo-identification shots for colleagues at SAMS (Scottish Association for Marine Science) and Aberdeen University and wondering if these were the same animals that had been photographed off Ness last week when we received a text that another 75+ bottlenoses were being simultaneously watched up there!

This certainly seems like the place to be if you are a flippered friend. We hope the dolphins stick around as the weather man tells us that we might need to baton down the hatches again, another low is approaching….. Let’s hope the weather holds out for one more day so we can get out on the water and continue our work towards photographing the Risso’s dolphins to see if the same animals return each year…

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a whole year since we were last here in search of Risso’s dolphins… Patiently, patiently, patiently, we have been waiting for over a week now for the wind to drop and yesterday it finally did!

We had a glorious day out on the water - one that we know first-hand to be a rare event for the notoriously messy waters of the Minch! Without so much as a breeze all day, we cruised south along the coast of Lewis and out to the Shiants, a small group of islands famed in the beautiful book ‘The Sea Room’ written by the owner and sole resident at the time, Adam Nicholson.

But I am racing ahead of myself! Before we made it that far out into the cold waters of this beautiful part of north-west Scotland we first made a stop to check on some acoustic equipment that our Skipper, Lewis, deployed for us last month. We then encountered not one, but two majestic and graceful white-tailed sea eagles gliding above us along the rocky eastern coastline of Lewis. I can never get over the sheer size of them (with a wing span of nearly 3 metres)! We stopped next to a sea-stack to catch our breath (and a Pollock for our dinner), and a big male grey seal popped his head up out of the water beside the boat. We encountered several more greys ‘basking’ in the sunshine with their heads bobbing out of the water as we travelled on our way. But no Risso’s dolphins…







As the sea was so calm, we took a few minutes out from our surveying to step ashore to investigate a remote and derelict old bothy that has been uninhabited for some 80 years and who’s only access is by sea. There was furniture intact inside and evidence of some of the only other visitors this year –red deer. It was a quiet and special place and we were appreciative of how privileged we were to visit.

We narrowly missed the weather closing in over the coast as we headed out into the deeper waters and towards the Shiants. Having spent three years conducting field surveys from the north-west mainland coast at Gairloch we had been tantalised by this group of islands which encroached into our survey area, but had yet to make it out to them. Then, PORPOISES! came the shout from all three of us simultaneously. The timing, and the backdrop, couldn’t have been better. A group of five porpoises, including a calf, dove in front of us and right in front of the islands.

The Shiants were awe-inspiring. Although we were hoping for an orca or a minke whale to break the surface as we approached and travelled from one island to the next, we were not disappointed with the infamous basalt rocks which were the size of cathedral pipes, with the sighting of another pair of sea eagles, one of whom was laden with a chick in its talons, or the group of nine sociable puffins sitting on the water, perhaps too lazy to move without the aid of the wind. What a truly stunning place to visit.




We encountered a small pod of common dolphins feeding near Kebbock Head as we headed back to the harbour. They came to check us out briefly, riding the bow of the boat before getting back to their business. And finally, in one of the Lochs we came across a group of harbour seals - who are noticeably smaller than grey seals. Harbour seals are declining in Scottish waters generally and are in a really precarious situation in the Western Isles where populations have declined dramatically in recent years.




Before we made it back to the harbour a squall came over us and reminded us of the changeable nature of the weather in this part of the world, and how lucky we had been. The forecast is looking really good again today so we hope to get back out on the water to continue our quest to find some of the Risso’s dolphins we identified in these waters this time last year and demonstrate that this is a part of the world that is important to them and in need of protection.

Charlie Phillips called us on Thursday evening to let us know about the large pod of pilot whales in shallow water in Loch Carnan, South Uist in the Western Isles of Scotland. By mid-morning on Friday we were stood alongside SSPCA and BDMLR on a spit between a power station and a fish farm, with 50... 60... 80? whales swimming just a few hundred metres away.

At first glance they looked healthy enough. A mixed group containing a number of very young animals who were sticking close to their mothers sides to large adult males (who are noticeably larger than the females). Herring gulls circled overhead. By mid-afternoon the whales had moved past the fish farm and a little further out of the Loch nestled in between a collection of small islands and skerries. They were close enough to the headland for us to hear their whistles and chirps and almost smell their blows. To see that number of whales, so close to shore, was an unforgettable sight and a privilege. But it was with a heavy heart that we watched them, as we could now make out the abrasions on some of the animals beaks and foreheads. Had they already stranded somewhere in the last couple of days? The UK’s top specialist marine mammal vets think so. We watched from the headland until the power station closed and we were moved on. What was to be the fate of this pod of whales? Only time could tell and we now play the waiting game.



Only 7 months ago a similar event ended in tragedy when a pod of about 35-40 pilot whales spent several days in this very Loch (coincidence?) and then stranded and died on the north-west coast of Ireland. Photographs of the dorsal fins confirmed that those animals that stranded in Ireland in 2010 were that pod from Loch Carnan. We are hoping for a different end to this tale.

Alistair Jack, BDMLR Scottish Stranding Co-ordinator, who is leading the monitoring and potential rescue attempt, and his BDMLR colleagues, kept a late night watch over the whales and were back there at first light on Saturday to maintain the vigil (there are not too many hours of darkness on the Uists at this time of year!). They updated us that that the whales had not moved far.

Preparing for this potential stranding has been a military event and BDMLR are at it’s heart and soul, with more volunteers and rescue kits arriving by the hour. But without more people power the pontoons would be useless and so the day was spent in the village hall with a bunch of dedicated locals, learning about rescue training – and preparing for the worst in this case, as well as the inevitable in future. Everyone here on the Islands is concerned for the whales and has been really supportive and helpful in making our stay as pleasant as it can be under the circumstances. . [If you haven’t done the BDMLR Marine Mammal Medic course, then sign up! Not only is it a professional and passionately run course, but you will be given the opportunity to assist in future rescue attempts in your local area: www.bdmlr.org.uk].



After a full day of mass stranding rescue training we headed back up to the headland with BDMLR to find the whales. It was windy and wet and the pod was in the same position as the previous day. They looked to be resting, with many animals logging on the surface and just a few circling around and spy-hopping with their heads out of the water. Then one of the medics that was new on the scene reported rumours of a dead whale - so we scoured the coastline. There she was, laid out on the rocks with the tide rising around her. This is not what we had been expecting. We had been preparing for the whole pod to strand.

Immediately Alistair called the Scottish Fisheries Protection vessel that was standing off on the other side of the islands to request small vessel support. A small crew came and helped to bring the whale to shore before the tide rose higher and we lost her body. At 4.8m, the adult female had some injuries from this stranding on the rocks, but also some damage from before this, possibly from a previous stranding event.



This was a very sad end to another long day. However this whale’s death has not been in vain. The UK has a world-leading stranding network that helps to rescue many animals and also post mortems dead animals, to help us understand their biology and why they died. Specialist vet, Dr. Andrew Brownlow from the Scottish Agricultural College is preparing to conduct a full post mortem this morning (Sunday) and we are now packing up our things and heading along to do what we can to help. Maybe this whale can help us to learn something about the incident that has led this pod of whales into Loch Carnan? We hope so.

The extreme gale force winds that we have been experiencing in the last week seem to have finally dissipated. We’ve been thinking about our colleagues who are also working in the field in Bardsey Island in North Wales and wondering if they have been as blown around as we were up here in northwest corner of mainland Scotland.

We’ve had plenty to keep us occupied even though we haven’t been able to conduct watches! Once we had a sighting of our first warship in the northern part of our survey area they multipled in number on a daily basis, up to six at one point. From massive aircraft carriers to frigates and fighter jets, we had them all, and we had a wind-inducing close encounter with a Royal Navy helicopter, which flew right in front of us in our field study site - they filled up our ‘big eye’ binoculars!

We also observed two intense, short and distant flashes in the night sky north of Skye. Mysterious. They were over too quickly to be flares. And ‘Big ears’, our underwater acoustic listening system, also recorded three different types of active sonar filling the Minch! No wonder no animals were heard. Maybe all the marine wildlife has travelled south to avoid the noise – maybe even as far south as Bardsey…??



Sightings of the wildlife sort have been more avian than cetacean, mainly due to the extreme gale force winds, although Nicola observed a pair of porpoises on one of the short watches when the Minch calmed down enough for us to don our thermals and go on effort for the first time on Saturday. Large flocks of noisy geese have been flying in ‘V-formation’ over head all week, in groups of 30-50. We had more than 60 eider ducks rafting on the water in front of our field site and a white-tailed sea eagle (minus the white-tail!) majestically circling in a thermal current over head for several minutes.



With high pressure expected over the UK for the rest of this week, we are optimistic to be watching every day. The warships have moved away now, perhaps they have gone further north. Without sonar filling the Minch we hope to have some cetacean encounters – it was this time last year that we observed ‘John Coe’ the infamous killer whale cruise through our field site! Fingers crossed…