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.

Perhaps the light also plays a part, this animal was viewed against the light and in the early morning, maybe if you had viewed from the opposite side the blow wouldn't have been so visible.

Here's the proof! This is the whale which emerged following the blows.

Minke whale.

Minke whale lunge feeding. What looks like an orca fin at the back is actually the minke's tail. The animal is on it's side lunging towards it's prey.

Common dolphin

Not a great number of seabirds seen today but I did manage to find at least three sooty shearwaters.

Also about 50 manx shearwaters...

...and about 30 storm petrels.

Bonxie.

Black guillemots.

Kittiwakes,

The Minch was unbelievably calm today.