Barolo shearwater and some dolphin photos, Madeira

My only new species of bird from this holiday turned up towards the end of what had so far proven to be a slightly disappointing whale watching trip out of Calheta. To be fair, we had started off with fabulous views of a pod of about 30 bottlenose dolphins, probably showing better than I'd ever experienced previously with the species, but we had seen none of the hoped for whales. 

We had reached the furthest point from land, about 4 miles out from Jardim do Mar and stopped the boat for a final look at a more distant pod of dolphins when I noticed a shearwater on the opposite side of the boat, unfortunately about to fly into the glaring sunlight. This was exciting because by mid December virtually all seabirds have left this area and I didn't expect to see anything avian at sea. However, there was perhaps one possibility....

The bird had an odd fluttering flight low over the water, followed by more typical shearwater glides, but then it was frustratingly lost in the glare. Fortunately a few moments later it flew back out of the sunlight briefly and allowed me a better look. It was clearly a small bird of the Manx shearwater variety, and not one of the larger shearwaters such as Cory's which also breed around these islands. 

My excitement levels went up a notch, because before we travelled to Madeira, I'd done quite a bit of research into which species of seabird, if any, I had a chance of seeing in December. There was really only one, Barolo shearwater, and if I was lucky enough to see one, I didn't want to tick it based on just an assumption, I wanted to know exactly why it was a Barolo. So for weeks I'd studied the finer details of identifying this particular species because it was the only lifer I was likely to get on the holiday and if I did see one, I wanted to be able to eliminate the doubt of an extremely out of season Manxie.

Barolo shearwater © madeirabirds.com.
Click here to open their website in a new window.

Short-finned pilot whales, Madeira

Today I took a whale watching trip out of Canical in the east of Madeira, run by Sea Emotions.  Really enjoyable, they found us around 15 each of short-finned pilot whale and bottlenose dolphin. The pilot whales came very close to the boat and had at least a couple of calves with them.

This was my first encounter with this species. I have seen long-finned pilot whales previously off southern Australia, and I have to take the word of todays guides and the Australian guides that they are the species they claim, because separating them is virtually impossible in the field. However, on range short-finned are by far the most likely off Madeira and long-finned most likely off southern Australia. These pilot whales are resident around Madeira and have been well studied.

Another journey across the Sea of the Hebrides

I love a good ferry journey across the Minch or in today's case the Sea of the Hebrides. Today we saw about 30 common dolphins in three groups and I also had brief views of a couple of minke whales. It was very quiet for birds, but I did manage two species of skua, great and a distant pale phase bird that was almost certainly pomarine. Other than that it was mainly just gannets and a few kittiwakes, plus a handful of fulmars and auks.

Crossing the Sea of the Hebrides

A five hour crossing of the Sea of the Hebrides today, from Oban to Barra, produced low numbers of cetaceans, with harbour porpoise and around eight common dolphins the sum total. All good value for money, but I was hoping for a minke or two. Perhaps on the return leg?

Incredible bluefin tuna at Peterburn

The last day of the holiday and there was nowhere else to be but back at Peterburn for the one final scan of the sea. It was good viewing conditions, quite calm but just breezy enough to keep the midges away, and although Skye and Harris were not as clear as they had been at the start of the holiday, I could still clearly make out their outlines.

To the north west through the binoculars I could see a lot of splashes and sure enough when I turned the scope onto them  I could see the acrobatic leaps of common dolphins. It was slightly odd though because there were a lot of splashes with no dolphins emerging, but they were over a mile away so I just assumed that it was dolphin activity and forgot about them and started to scan the rest of the sea through the scope, as always on the look out for large whales.

Almost immediately I saw a dolphin breaching at quite close range (1km?) and it was unmistakeably a Risso's dolphin, with a largely pale grey body, covered in scratches and no beak. One of the best views I've ever had of the species, because this is the first time I've seen the whole animal. Soon I saw that it was with at least another three animals, which included a calf, presumably the same one I saw with its mother yesterday. Brilliant, if I saw nothing else it would have been a good morning. 

I continued scanning. More splashes to the north west, but this time no obvious sign of dolphins. I continued scanning. Suddenly at much closer range I saw something that obviously wasn't a dolphin, the shape of the tail was completely wrong. I just managed to capture it as it disappeared back into the water. Straight away I suspected that it was a tuna because three had been reported from Tiumpan head the previous day, but I'd never seen one before so didn't know much about their behaviour or even their size. It was a breathtaking moment, one of the highlights of the holiday.

Death by midge at Peterburn

It was raining and misty first thing this morning so I didn't manage to get out very early. When I did eventually get to my vantage point at Peterburn, 5 miles south of Rubha Reidh lighthouse, at 9:45am there was no rain, no wind and the sea was like glass, perfect for whale and dolphin watching. Also perfect for midges which were out in their trillions. It was worth putting up with them though, in a couple of hours I managed to see 4 minke whales, 2 Risso's dolphins (a mother and calf), 40 common dolphins and 2 harbour porpoise. Also adult white-tailed eagle and 29 great northern divers. Not a bad return from a place that only yesterday I said was petering out.

Fin whale and breaching minke whales off Peterburn

A fantastic early morning whale watch from Peterburn which is about 5 miles south of Rubha Reida lighthouse and 4.5 miles north of our caravan. In a 90 minute watch I saw at least 8 minke whales including one animal which breached at least 3 times and was a great view through the telescope. Then I noticed the Hebridean Whale watching boat Orca 1 stopped and watching a couple of minkes. As I watched, a huge whale surfaced perhaps a mile beyond them, which looked to be twice the length of the boat which I think is around 10m. Clearly a fin whale just off size alone, it took my breath away when I first saw it. Also this morning, several pods of common dolphins and a few harbour porpoise.

Minke whale soup in the Minch

Another amazing trip with Steve Truluck at Hebridean Whales Cruises, we set sail from Gairloch and headed up to the summer Isles north of Ullapool. We saw an amazing 19 minke whales, around 30 common dolphins and about 10 harbour porpoise.

One of the minke produced this impressive blow which I'm told usually only happens when the animal has been working hard. Further down this post you'll see the same whale lunge feeding.

Minke and probable fin whales at Rubha Reida lighthouse

Rubha Reida lighthouse sits in a spectacular location about 15 miles north west of Gairloch on the eastern side of the Minch in Wester Ross. Next stop west is Skye or Harris. It's a noted place for cetaceans and today was the first day of my now annual whale watching trip to the area, and this time Elaine came as well.

After a short walk of about three miles to take in some of the scenery, we returned to the car and I set up the telescope and started to scan the sea. By looking for feeding frenzies of gannets and shearwaters, I was able to pick out places where whales were likely to be, and in 30 minutes managed to have decent, though distant views of at least three minke whales including one animal which was lunge feeding, i.e. driving fish in front of it to the surface, then rapidly increasing speed and lunging at them so that it's head emerged from the water. It was a good enough view through the scope to enable me to see the whales baleen plates and white throat. A tremendous sight and a great start to the holiday. 

Most frustrating though was a distant blow from a large whale which I'm pretty confident was a fin whale, but I didn't get enough on it to be sure. Edit: later in the evening another observer at Kilt Rock on the Isle of Skye informed me that during the afternoon she had watched a large whale that was probably a fin whale just north of Longa. Longa is the island right opposite our caravan, and just a few miles south of Rubha Reida, so perhaps the same animal.

Minke whale.

 

Indian Ocean humpback dolphins, Munamban beach, Kerala, India

At Munamban harbour in Kerala, India today we saw at least 10 Indian Ocean humpback dolphins. These wonderful animals are closely related to the Australian humpback dolphins that I saw in 2018 and are just magical and enigmatic. They are pale grey in colour with a white / pinkish tip to the dorsal fin and instantly identifiable. Or so it would seem....

There is considerable uncertainty surrounding humpback dolphins in the Indian Ocean. Animals on the west coast of India (including Munamban) are thought to be Indian Ocean humpbacks, whilst those on the east coast are thought to be a different species, Indo-Pacific humback dolphins. However there is also a sub-species of Indian Ocean humpbacks, ssp. lentiginosa, which occurs on the east coast in the Bay of Bengal, which may in fact be a third species (Carwardine 2020).

So based on location it seems pretty clear, these must be Indian Ocean humpbacks? Well possibly... there are a few problems though. In the field it was immediately clear that there were two different colour types present the first was pale grey as in the animal at the top of the post, but the others were dark grey almost brown in colour, as is the case with animal below.

Common dolphins and minke whale, Sea of the Hebrides

Our departure from Barra was delayed by three days due first to a bow thruster failure on the MV Isle of Lewis followed by a failure of some steelwork on the rescue vessel, MV Lord of the Isles. Finally after days of anxiety and uncertainty, not least about where we were to stay for the extra nights, MV Clansman came to our aid and amid emotional scenes at the harbour got us off the island.

Not that the three extra days weren't time well spent, the bulk of the barnacle goose and all of the whooper swan passage happened after our official leave date, possibly the single greatest experience of the holiday whilst arguably the bird of the holiday turned up in the shape of the Hornemann's Arctic redpoll.

However, finally we departed Barra at 13:30 today and headed off into the murk which shrouded the island with the forecast of 40mph wind and heavy rain during he journey. It turned out ok though, yes we got wet and buffeted but we still spent most of the five hour journey on deck and saw some decent sea birds and at least 20 common dolphins. Just before we arrived at the entrance to the Sound of Mull we came across a feeding frenzy of mainly gannets and kittiwakes which were harassed by juvenile pomarine and long-tailed skuas and right in the middle of it all emerged a breaching minke whale. A great end to the holiday, I then packed up and went inside to dry off and enjoy a hot meal before we arrived in Oban.

Earlier on the trip we had seen at least nine petrels, one of which was certainly Leach's, but most of the rest appeared to be storm petrels.

Common dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphins in the Sound of Barra

This evening a pod of five bottlenose dolphins were in the Sound of Barra as we watched from the jetty at Eoligarry.  They put on a great display, breaching and spyhopping for around 20 minutes or more.

On Saturday 24th September we crossed the Sea of the Hebrides on the Oban to Castlebay ferry and saw a minke whale just off the north tip of Mull and several common dolphins.

Crossing the Minch on Loch Seaforth

A great crossing of the Minch today on the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry and back, with at least 3 minke whales seen together, 2 Risso's dolphins, around 40 common dolphins and 5 harbour porpoise. However, it was the blows off Tiumpan head which really took the breath away, two, three, four blows in quick succession, I didn't see the animals but clearly large whales, fin or humpback. An exhilarating experience from a ferry in UK waters. 

A large whale blow, possibly fin because it's tall and slim?

...and this one is possibly humpback because it's a a bit less tall and more spread out. I'm not certain of either of these though, the wind and other factors obviously effect the shape of the blow, and I'm just not expert enough to know for sure.

Common dolphins.

Fin, Humpback and Minke whales in the Minch

I never thought that any whale watching trip in the UK could match those that I experienced in Australia and New Zealand over the past few years, but todays trip with Hebridean Whale Cruises out of Gairloch with Steve Truluck and Rosie Barrett achieved it. I was absolutely delighted when Steve said at the start that we were going to head for Tiumpan Head on the east coast of Lewis because I knew that there were some big whales in that area, but it was a long journey from Gairloch and some of the smaller stuff had to wait until later as we sped north west for around an hour. It was worth it though....

Finally we arrived off Tiumpan head. There were common dolphins all around us, many leaping out of the water, some so close to the boat that it felt like I could have touched them, and I could see others swimming under the boat. Suddenly right in the middle of them a huge shape appeared on the surface, perhaps 10x longer than the dolphins, a fin whale, the second largest animal ever to exist and it was just 15m in front of us! The dolphins seemed to enjoy its presence and surfed around it! An incredible moment. After a minute or so it arched it's back and dived, revealing it's fin which is set back on this species, about two thirds of the way along its body.

Suddenly a shout went up that there was another fin whale behind us and turning I saw the great arch of a body as a second animal also dived, again with dolphins all around it. For several minutes the whales kept surfacing and diving, and all of the time they had an escort of common dolphins. A truly breathtaking experience.

It's easy to forget when looking at these photos that common dolphins are around 2 - 2.5m in length and in the photo above you can't even see the dorsal fin of the whale because it's below the water. As I said previously, the dorsal fin is set back on fin whale but even so we're only looking at about two thirds of the animal in this photo.

Point of Stoer Lighthouse

A full day not watching whales and dolphins today at possibly the best mainland site in North West Scotland. I spent seven hours here and saw just one white-beaked dolphin. Still, it's a very scenic spot and there were lots of birds, skuas, shearwaters, divers, auks, twite etc., but best of all, a hobby flew over the lighthouse and away south. I'm not sure if I've ever seen Hobby in Scotland before, but certainly not in this area.

Sea of the Hebrides - Barra to Tiree

A great crossing of the Sea of the Hebrides on our way from Castlebay on Barra to Scarinish on Tiree, with the highlights being a pod of at least 50 common dolphins and a brief sighting of a minke whale.

There were plenty of the usual seabirds to be seen, including good numbers of auks and shearwaters, but no storm petrels on this crossing.

Bottlenose dolphins, Flamborough Head

Great to see a pod of around 20 bottlenose dolphins off Flamborough Head today, including at least one baby. Also today around 50 grey and common seals.

From the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry

No visit to Ullapool is complete without a day trip on the ferry to Stornoway and back. It's not as good a dedicated whale watching trip, but at £20 a head as a foot passenger it's a lot cheaper and offers the chance of seeing a few decent cetaceans and seabirds. Today I caught the 10:30am ferry from Ullapool, we arrived at Stornoway at 1pm and left at 2pm, back in Ullapool for 4:45pm. If you want to go ashore you've hardly got time to get past the ferry car park at Stornoway before you need to be back on the boat but then that's not what I was here for. I was here for the boat journey.

The plan is pretty much the same as on the whale watching trip, look out for large groups of sea birds feeding and if you find one you may well have hit the jackpot. The only problem is the ferry just ploughs on, sticking to it's set course and speed and doesn't really care too much about what you have seen. It's not going to stop to let you have a closer look, you have to rely on birds and cetaceans being close enough and obliging enough for you to get a decent look at them. 

The photo above is looking south from the ferry towards Skye, you can even make out the Old Man of Storr and in the foreground you can see a flock of gannets feeding. A couple of minutes scanning through these and a minke whale revealed itself briefly about four times. Not a great view but decent enough to get a positive identification.

Whale watching in the Minch

When I made plans to visit northern Scotland in the middle of August, my main hope was that I would see a few whales and dolphins because late summer is a peak time for seeing them. It was always going to be a longshot because as somebody said, "there's a whole lot of nothing out there" and I expected long periods of seeing nothing except the sea, but my attitude is if you don't try you don't see so get out there and give it a go. I certainly won't see them sat at home.

There are three requirements when it comes to seeing cetaceans. Firstly you need to go to the right places, secondly you need to go at the correct time of year and finally you need a huge slice of luck. With this in mind, today was always going to be the big day, a trip out into the Minch with Hebridean Whale Cruises from Gairloch. It was the right time of year and if anybody could get me to the right places it was these guys. Now I just needed the luck.

Just getting on the trip was a mammoth achievement because the bookings go so fast, especially this year when due to Covid restrictions they have been running less trips. For three weeks prior to the bookings becoming available online I had checked five or six times a day, morning, noon and night, it was almost an obsession, hoping to be able to book for today, the 17th August and the only day I could really make this week without disrupting my entire holiday. Finally, just after midnight last Thursday, the dates appeared and at 5:30am the same day I booked my place. Less than 12 hours later the trip was sold out.

I've been on plenty of whale watching trips in the past, especially off Australia and New Zealand, but it was obvious right from the start that this was going to be a trip unlike any other that I have been on. All of the other trips allow you to wander freely around on a largish boat in your own clothing, often with small children wandering around and the Australian trips in particular provide you with a cup of tea and a slice of cake, all very civilised. Not this one. First we had to don full waterproof gear as provided by the company, thick padded stuff to keep you warm as well as dry, and over that we had to put on a life jacket. 

Then there was the seating arrangements. There was only space for 12 people to sit and on our trip we only had 10 to allow a bit more space between us, though I really don't think that Covid could have survived this trip! They weren't normal seats, it was more like sitting on a horse with the seat between your legs with a small hand rail on the back of the seat in front for you to hold onto. There would be no wandering around on this boat, no toilets and certainly no tea and cake or small children. This boat was built for speed.

It was a four and a half hour trip covering a large area of the Minch, the sea between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. Our route took us from Gairloch to the north end of Skye, then up to the Shiant Islands off Lewis and a little further north beyond that, before turning and heading back to Gairloch.  Fortunately I remembered to plot the route on an app on my phone and we covered about 72 miles in total.

Wildlife in the oceans tends to be concentrated around food sources and so large parts of the trip involved moving at high speed, bouncing over waves with spray crashing over the boat as we made our way to and from favoured feeding grounds. On the way back especially we must have endured a full 45 minutes of this, every 30 seconds spray covered the boat, it was like taking a never ending shower with all of your clothes on and it was relentless. Relentless, wonderful and exhilarating, with breathtaking scenery as we made our way past the islands. It was worth the money for the journey back alone, real high octane stuff, the kind of thing that some people pay good money for minus the whales and dolphins!

The whole trip was just a wonderful experience from start to finish. When we arrived back at the harbour I could barely walk when I got off the boat!

Minke whale probably juvenile.

We saw at least two minke whales, an adult and a juvenile. The animal at the top of the post is the adult. Juveniles don't accompany their parents and these two probably aren't related, they've just been brought together by a convenient food supply. We watched them feeding in amongst the gannets for a good 30 minutes, occasionally lunge feeding. The juvenile surfaced right by the boat on one occasion, so close I could hear it's blow. What an experience.

Bottlenose dolphins, Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point on the Black Isle near Inverness is one of the best places in the UK to watch bottlenose dolphins from land. Today there was a pod of about 20 dolphins which contained at least three calves.

I've just started a week long tour of northern Scotland hoping to see a few whales and dolphins and this was a great start. I'll be spending a few days in the north east around John O'Groats before heading west along the north coast of Scotland to Durness and then dropping down to Ullapool. It can be all very hit and miss with cetaceans and I might spend the next seven days watching the sea, but I've got three boat trips planned which should give me a better than average chance, plus hopefully I'll see a few decent birds as well. Whatever happens it should be a great experience. Today at Chanonry Point, three summer plumage red-thoated divers flew past, a black guillemot, 20 gannets and a few each of Sandwich and common terns.