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.