Entries by Nicola Hodgins

Yahoo … I'm back, both here on Lewis and here on the blog! Go on admit it … you've missed me haven't you?!

Our humans have had some great land based sightings since we've arrived, a lot of which have been really close to the coast and therefore we've had lots of fun running over the heather and jumping bogs to get as close to the critters as possible. Some times they've been only metres away from us … ! Personally, i think that the dolphins heard that we were back and came to say thanks for our efforts on the Dolphin-Dog Walk … on which note it's still not too late to donate to our worthy cause - and if you do that'll likely mean more treats for us, although to be honest it's not that we do too badly as it is … but who doesn't like an extra chew every now and then?

It's been great returning to our old stomping grounds, otherwise known as some of the most beautiful beaches i've ever had the pleasure to walk on. I have to say, what i find quite bizarre is when the wind is blowing so hard that it almost knocks you over, you'd expect massive rollers crashing onto the shore but no … sometimes there's hardly a wave … apparently it has something to do with the wind blowing so hard in the opposite direction that the waves have no momentum whatsoever!! Weird eh? But better for us canines who are a wee bit shy of big white foam!

The highlight so far for my trusty assistant (Harvey - remember him?) and I, has been our "new" walk.



It's only taken our humans 3 years but they've finally stumbled upon … wait for it … drum roll please … a WOOD! I know … i didn't believe it either and thought i was dreaming but yes, here on what i historically referred to as the "Stickless Isles", there is in fact a secret haven (or should that be heaven?) with a plethora of toys for us canine carbon munchers!! Very exciting indeed … and as far as we're concerned, possibly the best find our humans have had since they found the local butchers!!

Even Harvey, who's not known for his fondness of sticks, has been getting in on the act, although i think i may have to reprimand him somewhat as despite there being an abundance of sticks, for some reason he always wants mine!





Due to the bad weather (well only "bad" if you're wanting to look for dolphins and other marine things) we've managed to persuade our humans to let us visit the "wood" a good few times and we've not yet been on the same path, this must be some size of wood!! (Note from human = the "wood" is otherwise known as Lews Castle Grounds and is 600 acres of mature woodland that has been here for centuries!). Harvey and i think they must be feeling a wee bit guilty about never having brought us here before and making us make do with driftwood and seaweed … although to be honest seaweed is pretty yummy!

Other exciting things to happen on the island since we've arrived include the stranding of a minke whale up on the north coast of the island. We were keen to go and check it out but the humans wouldn't let us as it had been dead a while and they thought it best we stayed away! … But CSI Lewis (Canine Strandings Investigations) have not been idle and only yesterday, on our local beach, we sniffed out a poor dolphin who'd obviously been dead for a wee while. Possibly a bit far gone to determine what species it is/was but hey, that's not our job … we leave that to the humans, we just find them!





Sadly (for the humans that is) the weather is due to continue to be pretty atrocious for the coming few days … yeah, more walks, ahem .. i mean, aw shame!! So you may be hearing from me again before too long … in the meantime i'm off to see if we can use our puppy dog eyes (being 77 - or 11 in human years - Harvey and I have had a wee while to practice this look!) to return once more to the wood-pile!!

Until the next time … woof!

Well, poke me in the eye with a blunt stick if we've not just had one of the best first weeks of a fieldwork season out here in the Atlantic Frontier - and given that the weather has now turned and the wind and rain are battering the islands we're even more grateful for our encounters last week!

After a stupendous encounter with a pod of highly exuberant common dolphins (see previous blog), it was the turn of a few other species to make our hearts soar - including the bottlenose dolphin. The west coast of Scotland population of these chaps is less studied and less well known than their Moray Firth (or even Cardigan Bay) counterparts and any chance to see them at closer quarters (but not too close mind!) is an absolute delight.

(It is important to note here that if you do come across dolphins when out on the water that you "must" keep your distance and let the dolphins approach you if they so desire, if they don't, then leave them alone as they're obviously busy engaging in other activities and interfering with them can cause them distress and land you in hot water with the authorities. We have a permit from the Scottish Government to allow us to spend limited time to photograph the animals as this is helping to build a picture of the population, their health and social structure.)

We first spotted a foraging pod of them from our land-based site and as they were pretty close to shore, feeding off a reef, we were able to spot a few young animals in the mix. Always a good sighting! The following day the weather was being kind and we managed to get back out on the boat. As we exited the loch to head out into the Minch some of the friendly porpoises that we know to use the area came over to check us out and we took this as a good omen of things to come! Within minutes of us arriving in the waters where we'd seen the bottlenose dolphins the day before from land, we saw fins … and were exceedingly happy to note that we'd found the same pod, foraging once more on this obviously productive bit of reef. Keeping our distance we held back and allowed them to make the first move … which they very soon did. As anthropomorphic as this next bit may sound however, there really is no other explanation for it … two individuals made their way over to the boat, swimming around and under us and having a good look, they returned to the pod and within minutes, the whole pod (including the mothers and calves - of which there were two) were heading our way and coming in for a closer look - obviously the two who'd come over first had had some good things to say about us!! For the next 20 minutes or so they delighted us by surrounding the boat, leaping out the water and splashing all around. We decided to leave them to it and took our leave, only for them to decide to come with us, travelling alongside on both port and starboard, and bow-riding as we went! We carried on our course and soon they returned to their lunch … having built up more of an appetite.

The following day it was back up to the land based site where again we were treated to a sighting of dolphins, this time a lot further out in the Minch. There was lots of splashing and leaping however this time they were too far for us to tell what species we were seeing, let alone if it was the same dolphins as the day before. We also had our first sighting this year of a basking shark and we were excited about the prospect of more sightings to come! And we didn't have to wait long … the following day it was to be another day on the water for us (good to get them in when you can as the weather here is as changeable as a chameleon in full swing!) and we were hoping to see if we could find any more critters!

Back up at the "Head" (Tiumpan Head) we quickly spotted a rather large basking shark, possibly the one we'd seen from land the day before, and set about taking photo-id pictures of its fin before undertaking a "de-sliming" to get a sample that we'd send off for DNA analysis. Colleagues at the University of Aberdeen are undertaking a study on the DNA of basking sharks around the UK as very little is known about these giants of the sea. Being able to know more about the inter-relatedness of these animals will be important for their future conservation - are the animals seen off the inner Hebrides related to the ones we see here off the Isle of Lewis? All very interesting questions and when basking sharks can offer up their DNA very easily (their bodies are covered in a film of slime and you only need a small amount - taken with a piece of cloth attached to a long pole - to get some useful information), and we can get close enough to them to do this, we are keen to help the study as much as we can!







As if this wasn't enough excitement for one day, on our return trip to harbour, we came across another pod of bottlenose dolphins. On closer investigation it became apparent (through markings on their dorsal fins) that these were some of the same animals that we'd been seeing on previous days! Once more they came over to check us out, playing in the wake of the boat and zig-zagging underneath us as we carried on our way.








With the weather turning we managed one more day of land-based watching, although to be honest it looked rather messy out to sea with lots of white-caps and a swell in the making and we were thankful we weren't out there being thrown about this way and that! Despite the less than great conditions, again we spotted a few basking sharks just hanging off the coast, slurping up the plankton and then our eyes were drawn to a mammoth amount of splashing off in the distance … more dolphins! Again, they were too far off for us to be able to determine species but there was much activity - lots of racing at the surface and splashing - and they spent the following 3 hours or so moving up and down the Minch … delighting not only us but several other people who'd come up to see what wildlife there was to see from this wonderful vantage point.

But alas … our good fortune wasn't to continue and the wind and rain that's been prevalent throughout the UK found us … and started its battering of this chain of islands! So whilst we're confined to indoors (excluding the mandatory dog walks which Kila will be only to happy to tell you about in the next blog) we can only hope that the dolphins are still there and will be encountered again as soon as the weather improves! We're still waiting for the first few Risso's of the season but i have a feeling it won't be long … so stay tuned!

Posted on behalf of Kila and Harvey - the Canine Research Team!

In case you've not read my blog before, i'm Kila and i'm the WDCS Canine Research Assistant.

Harvey is my side-kick, otherwise known as the "Assistants assistant".



In our role as the "WDCS Canine Research Team" we're used to helping out our lovely humans (otherwise known as Nicola and Sarah) with their research on the whales and dolphins that frequent the waters off the coast of the Isle of Lewis in the north-west of Scotland. To date we've busied ourselves with keeping them company on the cliff whilst they look out for fins (we look too of course but until someone invents some canine binoculars we can only keep our beady eyes on the inshore goings-on!), picking up rubbish on the beach (as some items can make good playthings in the absence of sticks) and sniffing out any marine creatures that have ended up on the beach … we're actually very good at this and so far have found a Risso's dolphin, a basking shark, the remains of a white-beaked dolphin, a blue shark, some jellyfish and of course several birds.



This year however we were given the opportunity to do something really exciting (if slightly scary) for our flippered friends, and Harvey and I signed up (well ok, our humans signed up for us as we've not quite got the hang of using a pen) to do a "Dolphin Dog Walk" which would see us embarking on a fairly major hike up the east coast of the island over endless miles of machair and peaty moorland. We've been training hard doing beach runs every day and we had planned on doing it last week but our humans advised us that the gale force winds made the conditions a wee bit too dangerous and they were a bit concerned for our safety so we postponed it by a day or two until the weather had calmed down slightly - this is after all one of the last frontiers into the North Atlantic and wind-less days are not all that common. Yesterday however it was declared to be perfect conditions, the humans packed their back-packs (making sure there were lots of tasty treats for us in there) and Harvey and I … well we just got out of bed, stretched and were off!

The walk started at the "Bridge to Nowhere" - that was the scary bit … where then were we walking to? - but we were assured that it wouldn't be an endless trek and that there was a destination in mind. With this information in paw, Harvey and I got the wind beneath our tails and set off with spirits high. It did of course help matters that the local rabbits came out to play and egged us on over the first hundred yards or so!



We'd actually tried to embark on this walk last year but after a mile or so we had to turn back as it was so soggy underpaw that it was like walking through treacle, and with a distinct lack of wind we were being eaten alive by midges! This time around however, as there has been literally no rainfall in the islands for months, we had been assured that it would be relatively dry underpaw. The light winds would ensure that the midges were absent and as the sun was shining it was nigh on perfect conditions for a good stomp!

The humans had a map (always good to carry one of these if you ask me) and some nice person had obviously been out before us and planted lots of colourful sticks in the ground which we were told we were meant to follow and sadly not chase and chew. It has to be said however that trying to find green sticks on a green background did at times prove to be quite a challenge … see earlier comment about bringing a map!



Only a mile or so in and one of humans (we'll call her Nicola) was our first "bog casualty" … one minute she was there, the next she was almost half her size, only to reappear to her full height with a rather wet and dirty right leg … yip, she'd stepped right into a rather big bog and as you can imagine was none to happy about it … that'll teach her to watch where she was going! The humans then sneakily devised a strategy that would see us going first - to test the ground - but Harvey and I were having none of that and made sure there was always a human out in the lead.



The first few hours were pretty tough going as we sidestepped hidden bog after hidden bog (they learn fast these humans) but the views out across the Minch made up for it. We had an outstanding window on the world below and we could see for miles in all directions - although to be honest it was just miles of machair in the direction we were headed!





There were lots of wee lochs dotted around for us to cool off in and we made the most of the free swimming opportunities. Not content with just the lochs, Harvey soon became known as the "bog dog" and whenever and wherever there was a chance for him to get wet and dirty … he was there.





Approaching the half way mark we had to descend down the hill before climbing back up but the humans noticed that the gully led out down to the sea and we were soon veering slightly off track and heading for the bottom where a beach (albeit a very small beach - and even smaller given it was high tide) awaited! We didn't get there without a fair bit of rock-climbing (i think they've mistaken us for goats here) but it was worth it to get to the bottom and have a cooling off dip in the sea. After a little bit more mountaineering and a return to the heather'ed landscape it was time to stop for lunch (and a tasty treat, or 2 for us … just to keep our energy levels up of course) and what a perfect spot our humans picked … more glorious views out to sea and some lovely soft grass for us to rest our weary paws on.







But they don't hang around long our humans and before we knew it we were off again. We tried to stick to the coast as much as we could but every now and then we had to come slightly inland as there were more gullies (this time with no chance of getting down to the bottom in one piece) and bogs to avoid. As far as wildlife spotting during our walk, there wasn't much to write home about … we came across a few red grouse (both of which appeared very surprised to see us!), some fulmars and kittiwakes soaring over the cliff edges, and a few other wee brown birds … as noted before, an ornithologist i am not! We also kept an eagle eye on the waters below but it was a bit choppy to see much and we only registered a few unidentified splashes far off in the distance!



Our "Dolphin Dog Walk" should technically have been called the "Dolphin Dog Bog Jump" as we (and the humans) spent the second half of the walk bog jumping - this of course caused much hilarity as the humans were not quite as adept at it as us 4 legged creatures and ended up lying on the ground quite a few times!! (I think they were actually just tired and using it as an excuse to have a wee rest!)





On and on we went, passing by more sticks in the ground that i wasn't allowed to chase although i think another dog must have been because at one point there was a distinct lack of said sticks and the humans had to get out the map and double check our route!



Soon however the end was in sight, which is a good thing because if truth be told we were starting to tire (we are after all both getting on in our dog years … !!) and we were very happy to spy the finish line ahead! It had been an eventful day and we'd covered a huge amount of distance and seen a whole part of the island of Lewis that we wouldn't have been able to see had we not walked (and jumped) it! We were thrilled that we'd achieved our goal and that in the process we'd managed to raise vital funds for the really important work that our humans do over here … it really was a fantastic day!



Our blog wouldn't be complete without a massive shout out to our support team - Kila (our WDCS ShoreWatch colleague with a wonderful name!) and Janet who very kindly ensured that we got to and from the start and end points of the walk - being that it wasn't a circular walk some logistics were required!! And of course an even bigger THANK-YOU to everyone who sponsored us … we're very grateful to you all and really appreciate the words of support that you've given us on our Just Giving page …!! It's also not too late to sponsor us … least now you know we've done it - Just go to http://www.justgiving.com/dolphindogwalk

And yes … we did get a paw massage on our return … and a huge dinner with sweeties as dessert!!

So THANKS again everyone … until the next time!!

Woof woof ….

Our 2012 field season on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland began with us taking a slight detour up through the more southerly of the islands so that we could help out our WDCS ShoreWatch team at a local community event being held on North Uist. There was a great turnout and we got to catch up with our existing ShoreWatchers and help to recruit new ones.

(For more information on ShoreWatch go to www.wdcs.org/shorewatch)

Our resident ShoreWatcher on Lewis had been having some amazing sightings (beaked whales, orca, minke whales, porpoises and common dolphins), and weather the week before we turned up and we were hoping that we were going to be just as fortunate. (On the islands you often hear the phrase "You should have been here last week" a lot!).

A wee bit of a low pressure system had followed us across the Minch and although the sun was still shining, for the first 36 hours after our arrival we had gusting winds resulting in a choppy and turbulent sea, not conditions that were conducive for us to be able to see much at sea!

At the first opportunity, during a respite from the wind, we ventured up to our land-based site at Tiumpan Head lighthouse to see if conditions had improved enough for us to start watching. Sadly they hadn't and there was a hefty swell running down through the Minch from the north resulting in white-caps a plenty and accompanied by a bitterly cold Arctic wind.

We decided to investigate anyway and before we'd even managed to get our kit out the car, Sarah spotted a large dorsal fin only a few 100m's off the lighthouse and the call was made … "Orca"! One large adult male was accompanied by two smaller animals (both either females or one female and a sub-adult male) and a calf were sighted (with the size of the male orca dorsal fin even in rough conditions he'd have been difficult to miss!) although it was a relatively brief encounter and after approximately 20 minutes we lost sight of them as they headed out into the Minch and deeper waters. It may have been short-lived but the encounter was nothing short of fantastic!!!



With the weather once again closing in and the wind picking up, we decided to take our orca sighting and head for home. Buoyed up by the promise of better weather to come and an orca sighting in our pocket, we were feeling positive about the days to come! Not a bad start to the season we think you'll agree!!

Patience is proving to be our virtue out here on the Isle of Lewis. The old Scottish saying "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes" is proving to be very true and even looking ahead at the various forecasts doesn't really help as it's hardly ever what they say it's going to be, so we've got to be ready to go at a moments notice! And also be prepared to just sit and wait … for a weather window to appear! However … we can now report on 2 of the best days that we've had since coming to the "Rainbow Isle" - the almost constant mix of rain and sunshine delivers these colourful and magical sights on an almost daily basis.

Day 1; from our land-based watching site at Tiumpan Head.
Over a few hours we were treated to sightings of harbour porpoises foraging close to shore, a minke whale slicing through the calm waters, a basking shark "basking" in the sunshine and two Risso's dolphins patrolling the northern half of our survey area. Again, it was the dreaded midge that eventually drove us off the cliff. There's a very fine balance to be found when it comes to marine wildlife watching in these parts - when the wind is too strong the white-caps on the water prevent us seeing anything, and when the wind drops too much, the midges appear on mass and make a beeline for any exposed piece of skin!



Day 2; from the relative safety (from midges that is) of our research vessel.
We started early, shortly after sun-up, and were hoping for a long-awaited great day at sea! And we were not to be disappointed. A mere 15 minutes from harbour, and not even out the Loch, we came across more porpoises than you could shake a stick at! Everywhere you looked there were little black bodies surfacing - behind, in front, to the right, to the left - it was a virtual porpoise soup! Cutting the engine we sat and listened, and counted, and tried to photograph the normally shy and elusive little porpoises. In stark contrast to their "usual" behaviour, these little guys (and girls) were actively interested in us and made several close swim-by's (cetacean equivalent of a fly-by), surfacing sideways to eyeball us and then diving under the boat at the last minute, only to surface on the other side with their characteristic little "pfff's". One individual appeared to be particularly interested in us and spent most of his/her time just doing circuits around the boat; from a very distinctive scar behind its blow-hole we recognised it as the same individual that we'd seen on 3 previous occasions in the same general vicinity - seems like this is an important or at least favoured, habitat for this chap!





After determining that we had approximately 35 porpoises within 500m of the boat, we decided to move on towards the mouth of the loch, however we didn't get very far before we came across yet another group of porpoises, this time actively engaged in foraging and not the least bit interested in what we were up to. This pod of 15 animals, including a young calf or two, were likely chasing mackerel and indulging in some fishy treats. There was a lot of activity (and lots of white water in their wake), with some animals "racing" at the surface and coming completely out the water as they hunted down their breakfast. Another stark contrast to what the porpoises we'd encountered only 15 minutes earlier were up to!





Soon we were leaving the porpoises behind and heading out into the oily calm waters of the Minch. In parts, not even the slightest gust of wind was present with hardly a ripple in sight - not a day to have been on land - but certainly one to have been on the water! It wasn't long before the cry of "Risso's" went up and the excitement was palpable … this was the first time in our 4 weeks here that we'd come across Risso's when out on the boat! One animal became two, two soon became five and the challenge was on to get shots of all the various dorsal fins before we left them in peace. They headed south, we headed north! But not too far north as we soon spied a wall of rain slowly approaching over land from the north-west, threatening to call an early end to our watery adventure and to avoid finding ourselves in the middle of it, turned tail and headed south, in the direction of home!

And what did we find? More Risso's … this time approaching us from the south. Some of the animals were the same as the ones we'd seen earlier but some of them were "newbies" … including a mother, whom we quickly nicknamed "Stumpy" due to the distinct lack of a dorsal fin (she'd obviously previously suffered at the wrong end of a propellor) and her calf - whose dorsal fin was bigger than hers! The calf was very young, between 1 and 3 months old, which we were able to determine because of the presence of foetal folds - a result of the calf spending its months in the womb, curled up, nose to tail. These folds disappear at different rates in different species; bottlenose dolphins can keep them for 1+ year, while southern right whales lose them within 2 weeks.



One of the most exciting things to come of the day, and our encounter with the Risso's, was that we recognised a few individuals as animals we'd identified last year - showing beyond reasonable doubt that this is an area to which animals are returning year on year … therefore it's important to them, or at least favoured!



As the rain chased us home, to top off a magical day, we spotted a sunfish - the first in our 3 years of surveying the Minch! There is some evidence that these giant circular fish (with elongated fins) are becoming a more regular visitor to Scottish waters - a sign of warming seas?