Gairloch 2008

I knew before opening my eyes this morning that we wouldn’t be watching the sea today. The wind was howling around the house and rattling the windows and the dustbin lid outside. On venturing into the lounge I could see nothing but whitecaps on the gunmetal grey sea, stretching from the beach out to the horizon. Even the navy vessel that had been patrolling outside of the entrance of Loch Ewe was no longer visible in the distant fog. There were no fishing vessels and no whale watching boats out there. Only the gannets, using the opportunity that the gale force south-westerly winds provided, were conducting their incredible dives to forage between the white horses.

Loch Ewe, to the north of our study site, has been a navy fleet base and convoy point since the second World War, when it was strategically important as it was the most northerly of the suitable west coast sea lochs. It is a big, deep, natural sea loch, making it such a suitable defence site. During the second World War an anti-submarine net was deployed across the entrance of the loch and it was further defended by the coastal defence artillery on both the northern and southern headlands at the lochs entrance. It was one of these historic and now derelict coastal defences from which we watched HMS Somerset enter the loch on Wednesday.


Today we decided to drive south to explore Red Point, a beautiful headland that no doubt gets its name from the incredible red sand that make up the tall dunes and the beach. Black-backed gulls sheltered on the near side of a rocky outcrop, and oystercatchers and turnstones scurried along the beach, battling the wind in search of food. The sand was whipping up and swirling so much that Kila often couldn’t find her stick! We had hoped to get a glimpse of the small Island of Rona, which is sandwiched between the mainland and the north-east coast of Skye, but we had trouble seeing our noses in front of us, and it was as if the western isles had completely disappeared.

The wild weather looks set to stay with us for the next couple of days so our viewing opportunities are likely to remain limited. We can only hope that the winds die down and the fair weather returns and in the mean time we will enjoy long walks on the glorious local beaches, in full wet weather gear, whilst keeping a keen eye out for any activity at sea!

Day 3 apparently….but for me it started like all the others – just as it’s getting light the humans throw on several jumpers and woolly socks and I get all excited that a walk (sorry a stick throwing session) is on the cards but as usual, it wasn’t to be …. And the shifts begin for one or t’other of the humans to join me outside come rain or shine!

However this morning was to be different after all (apparently although it was sunny it was something called a “sea state 5” which I can only think has something to do with the wind as I do indeed believe that those dastardly sheep smelled even closer!), and only a few shift changes in, they’d packed up and loaded the moving box (the one that gets you to and from walks…and stops you from getting at those dastardly sheep)!! The humans appeared to enjoy the time in the box (taking photo things whilst I on the other hand just kept seeing sheep going past the window at 40mph….) and were rather happy when we rounded a corner to be greeted by “4 navy ships” (one was called the “Bulwark”, weird name if you ask me but hey…) hanging out in Loch Ewe. I was excited cos I finally got to go for a walk….but not before we were buzzed by the biggest bird I’ve ever seen (even bigger than the eagle we saw the other day), turns out it was of the species Helicopteri francais.

For the next wee while we (the humans actually, if truth be known) stumbled over heather covered rocks and took up residence in what used to be a gunnery outpost in WW2…very nice view of all the activity going on in the Loch and out into the Minch, some of these birds really can fly fast can’t they? No chance I’ll be catching one of them…and they’re a bit noisy for my liking too!



By the time we got back to the house it was sunnier but windier than before and although there was still lots of human discussions on-going, lots of “maps” being poured over and lots of standing around looking out to sea with those big glasses they have, there was also much more stick chasing for me, when I wasn’t running up and down the length of the fence to get at those dastardly sheep that is – if only they’d leave the gate open….!!

An exciting moment happened when the human called Sarah spotted a group of surfing porpoises, and then the one called Nicola found us a basking shark (just off the beach at the end of the garden!!) – don’t like the sound of that but I’m assured they only eat plankton and never come onto land, so I feel better knowing that… although I may think twice about swimming down there now! And if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day, we then got buzzed by what I presumed was another member of Helicopteri francais, however I was informed that although it was from the same genus, it was in fact a different yet similar species, Helicopteri royali navyi – there must be quite a diversity out here!

I’ll bid you farewell for the moment as I’m guessing it’s about time for the trip in the moving box to the place called the “temporary office” (I call it the pub…they claim it’s the only place they can get wireless…and after driving around in the moving box for ages trying to find an alternative source I’m beginning to believe them!) but I get packets of pork scratchings and lots of attention from other people so I don’t mind….and they might even stop at a beach for a walk on the way home before dinner and an evening of lying on the sofa for me…whilst they pour over more maps and talk about “data”, “navy ships” and “minke whales” – all Greek to me!

It’s a hard life being a dog…..and ensuring there are enough sticks to last the day – I had to make do with a chair leg the other day, after they’d taken the bone off me, how was I to know it was from a whale?!

Until next time….woof!

Minke whale soup! The heavy rain filled clouds and the light breeze meant that we had perfect flat seas and grey surrounds today, adding up to great whale viewing conditions! As a result we were able to spot numerous minke whales feeding way off in the distance. Altogether we saw an incredible 17 whales today, although some of them were undoubtedly resights of the same animals making the most of feeding opportunities. Nicola also spotted a mother and calf pair, which was a lovely bonus and she also saw a dolphin that was too far away to identify to species unfortunately. (Yes, so far Nicola has spotted more animals than me, but I’m not bitter, honest!! I’ve spotted more navy vessels anyway…). We missed our local grey seal today, but rafting eiders were plentiful as were passing gannets and cormorants.

The islands of the inner and outer isles, Skye, Lewis and Harris were sadly missing this afternoon due to the fog that came in and engulfed us and our lovely vista. We were a bit soggy so after 6 hours of watching we were ready to call it a day and head for our temporary office (the local!). We are hoping for another good days worth of watching tomorrow before we expect the weather to turn and the high winds to set in!!

Monday mornings don’t get any better than this! A hot cup of tea, several layers of fleeces and we’re ready for our first land-based survey day. We’re watching the glorious vista out of the sitting room window, waiting for the sun to climb up over the mountain behind us to provide sufficient light on the sea for us to start our first watch.

We’re conducting a pilot land-based cetacean survey off the west coast of Scotland where residents, commercial boat operators and scientists alike have reported declines in whales and dolphins over the last decade when naval exercises are happening in the local area. Over the next two weeks we are expecting Joint Warrior, the biggest exercise in Europe and reportedly one of the biggest navy exercises of all time, to occur in the waters around us. Nine allied countries are to be involved and a total of 29 ships and 4 submarines. Conducting sightings from land means that we can monitor a larger area and watch the movement of whales and dolphins in the local area without influencing their behaviour.

We’ve already got used to seeing a big male grey seal bobbing in the surf just off our beach and a kestrel that includes our garden in his foraging route. We also witnessed a massive white-tailed (?) eagle flying over and coming to perch on a rocky headland just to the north of us and being mobbed by a pair of hooded crows before disappearing over the hilltop. Wow. There were also small rafts of eider ducks on the water, cormorants flying low to the wavelets and the occasional auk.

We’re here to spot minke whales, harbour porpoises and dolphins in the lead up to Joint Warrior - and we weren’t disappointed! We watched extra closely through the big eyes when we saw gannets circling above a patch of water and we were rewarded! Nicola and I both had brief glimpses of a minke whale today. Whilst mine was small and distant, whereas Nicola’s was only 500 metres offshore! However, these weren’t our first minkes of this trip… On our way home after uploading the blog yesterday, whilst pulling over to let a sheep cross the road, on glancing out of the car window, Nicola spotted the unmistakable surfacing of a minke!!

Today the sun shone intermittently, lighting up parts of the glorious outer Isles. We could never get bored of watching, especially with Skye as our backdrop, but, the wind increased throughout the day so that we had to stop watching at 2.30pm. Oh well, time to explore and enjoy some of the other bits of the west coast of Scotland…more tomorrow!

After picking up our "big eyes" (really big binoculars) in Inverness we headed northwest, destination Gairloch in Wester Ross (or for those who have no map of Scotland in their head, or a map to hand - about an inch south of the most north westerly point of Scottish (and UK) mainland. (One road in and one road out!)

As we twisted an turned along the rather surprisingly good condition A road, the true beauty of the western Highlands opened up to us in all its glory. Snow-capped peaks gave way to misty and sun-drenched lochs, the colours reminiscent of an old oil-painting or modern day photoshoped landscape! Passing through the small village of Gairloch, we carried on another 10 miles or so and finally approached our new home for the next 2 weeks.....with uninterrupted views out over the Minch and the sun setting over the Isles of Lewis and Skye, there really were no words to describe the feeling of finally "coming home!".

Sunday was a day for recces - checking out some suitable land-based sites (and the wonderful realisation that our wee hoose possibly offers the best platform - and it's warm), acquainting ourselves with the village and finding the location of our new temporary office - the local pub - it's the only place with wireless, honest!!

And in case you're wondering where all the cetaceans are? We can also report that before we'd even had time to unpack, we were greeted by a grey seal at the bottom of the garden....and a minke whale blowing about 500 yards offshore. Oh and there's a whale vertebrae in our garden too.....this was so obviously meant to be our new home!

We've not even started and already the anticipation of what's to come is prevalent!!

PS. And Kila (the white German Shepherd) has been swimming (in sea and loch) and is finding plenty of sticks - in case anyone was worried!!