The Whale and Dolphin Blog: Humpback 'Davies' off the Summer Isles

Another breathtaking trip with Hebridean Whale Cruises, Gairloch this evening, we encountered a humpback whale, two minke whales, a few common dolphins and a harbour porpoise. The humpback performed absolutely brilliantly.

I was scanning the sea looking for cetaceans, when I noticed the mountain Suilven in the distance, part shrouded in mist yet still clearly distinguishable. This is one of my favourite mountains right in the heart of InverpolIy, and I thought to myself, I'd love to see a humpback jump in front of that. Then suddenly one did! Right out of the water before crashing back in again with a huge splash! We watched it jumping for several minutes and then it began feeding.

Suilven.

I'm not sure if it was gulp feeding or lunge-feeding but to me it seemed to be the latter, and at times I could see the water being expelled from its baleen plates, something that I have never seen before. Notice also the white acorn barnacles on its 'lips'.

It was such a good view that I could clearly see the tubercles on it's head. It also made many pectoral fin slaps.

Pectoral fin slaps are when the whale raises its fin like this and then crashes it down onto the water. It's believed to be a way of communicating between individuals.

Humpbacks often perform pretty well and I've seen some good ones outside the UK but this was up there with the best I've ever seen.

A humpback whale blow with Suilven as a back drop! Not a photograph that I ever expected to get of the mountain.

Icing on the cake for me, turns out that the whale has been given the name 'Davies'! I'd like to think that it was named after me, but of course it wasn't, but that won't stop me telling the grandkids that it's my whale 😆😜. Davies was also seen in the Minch last year.

It's just great with the mountains of Inverpolly in the background. On the right is Stack Pollaidh that I've climbed and photographed many times, including last year with Elaine.