Outer Hebrides

The Minch is full of life!

Thursday, June 7. 2012

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!

Gannets galore

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.

Life on the rocks

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!

Pull the otter one!

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.

It's a sugar kelp jungle out there!

Posted by Sarah Dolman in Outer Hebrides at 20:28 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Our return to the Islands ...!!!

Tuesday, June 5. 2012

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)

The North Uist ShoreWatch Team!
People from Left to Right; Maya, Sarah, Kila, Anya and Nicola.
Dogs from Left to Right: Harvey and Kila

The species (Risso's dolphin) that we're hoping to see a lot more of in the coming weeks!

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!!!

Orca at Tiumpan Head.

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!!

Posted by Nicola Hodgins in Outer Hebrides at 16:34 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Bye-bye Beasties, Beasties bye-bye…

Sunday, October 2. 2011

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..?

Our most frequently seen (and a favourite!) species..

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)

..

A watery welcome home after a day at sea!

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 look forward to seeing Scratchy again in 2012...

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..!

"... Somewhere over the rainbow...."

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..

The early bird catches the beautiful sun-rise!

Ahhhh, another beautiful early morning!

Canine Research Assistants when "off effort"

Another stunning beach that we will look forward to returning to in 2012..

Posted by Sarah Dolman in Outer Hebrides at 14:46 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Another busy day in the Minch!

Friday, September 16. 2011

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!

Breakfast time in Loch Erisort

A cheeky porpoise comes to check us out!

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!

Female common dolphin and her wee calf (with foetal folds) enjoying a free ride!

Motoring along in the Minch

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).

You lookin' at me? You lookin' at me?

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.

A basking shark enjoying the feast

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!!

A hungry 'bonxie' wanting a free fish supper

Posted by Sarah Dolman in Outer Hebrides at 17:14 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Outer Hebrides Wildlife Video

Friday, September 16. 2011

The weather has allowed us out on the sea only briefly but there is plenty of wildlife around. These clips feature basking sharks, herring shoaling at the surface and harbour porpoises and gannets feeding on the herring.

Posted by Administrator in Outer Hebrides at 16:37 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

The Minch is full of life!

Our return to the Islands ...!!!

Bye-bye Beasties, Beasties bye-bye…

Another busy day in the Minch!

Outer Hebrides Wildlife Video

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