 2005 Sightings
March April May June July October November December
2005 Sightings summary report .pdf
December 2005
There were just three sightings during December, all of bottlenose dolphins!
A local creel boat reported the first of these sightings. The fishermen
described a group of around 20 individuals, with 5 playing around the
front of the vessel. The rest of the group were foraging closer in to
the coast. The remaining sightings of bottlenose dolphins for December
were both reported on New Year’s Eve! A group of 12 were seen
mid-morning off the south coast of Mull and a few hours later another
group were spotted approximately 25 miles further south off Port Askaig,
Islay. Bottlenose dolphins routinely swim at speeds of about 3 to 7
miles per hour. However, some studies indicate maximum speeds of 18
to 22 miles per hour. It is possible therefore that these two sightings
were of the same group, although they would have had to be travelling
faster than average to make this distance.
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October & November 2005
Due
to the decreased number of people out and about on the water in the
winter months, we inevitably receive fewer sightings at this time of
year. However, it is important to remember that this reduction in sightings
does not necessarily mean that many of the cetacean species we see in
the spring and summer are absent from our waters in the winter. Although
the minke whales appear to migrate away from the west coast at the end
of the summer, it is becoming more and more certain from the sustained
sightings reports throughout the winter months that bottlenose dolphins
remain in the area for much of the winter. With sightings reported around
our coasts in both October and November, the likelihood of a ‘resident’ population of bottlenose dolphins on the west coast of Scotland is getting
stronger.
November 2005
There were only five sightings reported to us in November, four of which
were of bottlenose dolphins. At the beginning of the month, 20 dolphins
including 6 juveniles/calves were spotted playing and moving through
the Kilbrannan Sound, West of Arran. A solitary dolphin was observed
in the mouth of Loch Nevis jumping and playing before swimming out of
the area. Dolphins were back in the Sound of Mull again by mid-November,
with a group of 12-15 individuals seen playing wildly off the Mull shores
by local residents. Again, there were two calves seen with this group – possibly the same calves seen a month earlier? The following
day lively and playful dolphins were seen by many around the Fort William
area; reports described a group of 25-30 dolphins (including mother/calf
pairs) playing and travelling in the area for hours. This same group
entertained crew onboard the Corran Ferry for over an hour as they took
the ferry up to Fort William for repairs!
The last sighting for November was slightly more unusual for this time
of year. A local fishing boat came across five common dolphins. The
group was playing around the boat for about an hour. This is a fairly
unusual sighting, as common dolphins tend to be an offshore species,
except for the summer months when they can be seen feeding on mackerel
close to the coasts.
October 2005
There were four sightings of bottlenose dolphins throughout October,
all of which were around the Mull coastline. The first two sightings,
which were both in the first half of the month, reported similar group
sizes (12-15 individuals). Two calves were seen with this second group
as they were playing off the West coast of Mull. The following day a
larger group of dolphins (25-30 individuals), once again with two calves,
appeared in the Sound of Mull. This time observers were close enough
to see foetal folds on the calves indicating that the calves were newborns!
Foetal folds or ‘neonatal stripes’ are creases present down
the sides of newborn calves for the first few weeks of life, and give
us an idea of when the calves were born – in this case end of
September-early October time. Bottlenose dolphins were seen once more
in October, this time a group of approximately 8 animals further north
in the Mallaig area.
There were 2 reported sightings of Minke whales for October. The first
sighting was a single adult some feeding in Rothesay Bay, gathering
much interest from the local bird life, and the Isle of Bute ferry crew!
The second whale was spotted North of Iona.
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July 2005
The last
few months have been extremely active with lots of sightings of Bottlenose
dolphins. However, they certainly have been keeping HWDT on their toes
as they appear to be travelling a great deal and groups seem to be splitting
up and regrouping quite often. Making it difficult to track these elusive
creatures and work out any population movements.
The season, so far is showing that there appears to be a few different
groups of dolphins along the West Coast. Reports came in of dolphins
around Skye, around the coast of Mull, Barra and out to North Uist.
As these sightings are so spread out and of varying group sizes it is
difficult to determine if any of these dolphins are members of the Ileach
group. It is however, highly likely that the Ileach group are a part
of the large group of up to 30 individuals that was being sighted around
the Argyll and Kintyre area. This group first appeared in the Kilbrannan
Sound towards the end of April. They were then sighted on quite a few
occassions around the Southern Argyll region until the end of June.
A smaller group of upto 15 dolphins then appeared around the coast of
Mull. Once these dolphins appeared in this area sightings from the Southern
parts of Argyll stopped, which almost certainly tells us that this was
part of the same group and possibly the Ileach group.
The group sighted around Mull varied a great deal in size, each time
they were sighted. Some reports being of only 3 individuals and some
being up to 15. Three individuals delighted passengers and tourists
of Tobermory on the 4th of July by coming right into the harbour and
playing for 2 hours. On the 20th of July a group 6 came into Tobermory
bay, this time they only hung around for about 15 minutes, but enough
to cause a stir along the Main Street. This group was highly active
throughout the month, travelling around Mull’s extensive coastline,
a great deal, making it very difficult to keep track of them. As Bottlenose
Dolphins are highly gregarious animals we are assuming the large group
of the Southern Argyll region included the Ileach group, and that the
smaller group sighted around the Mull area in July was made up of members
of the Ileach group.
Throughout July we also had reports from other areas of the Hebrides,
of what must be different Bottlenose dolphins, as sightings of the Mull
group were on the same days.
05/07/05 10 two thirds of the way between Tiree and Barra. Travelling
fast and leaping clear of the water.
06/07/05 30 individuals actively feeding with Razorbills viewed from
Portree moving Northwards up Sound of Raasay
07/07/05 4 off Ardanish Point (nr Broadford bay, I think!, contacting
him) Swimming slowly.
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Late June
/ July 2005
A group of
6 Pilot Whales were accompanied by at least 4 BND dolphins in West Loch
Tarbet on the Mull of Kintyre, towards the end of June. These whales
were sighted over 2 days in the same area but have not been sighted
since. It is fairly unusual for these whales to come so close into shore. They
appeared to be spread out with a distance of around 100m between each
of the individuals. The dolphins did not appear to approach closer than
100 m to any of the whales and kept close within their group. The dolphins
were present during the whole of the encounter even over the following
day.
Throughout
the last week of June and first weeks of July Whale watch operators
have being reporting upto 10 minke whales in Loch Na Keal on the West
coast of Mull . Never before have we known whales to feed in this area.
It is clear to see there is a lot of feed in the water as there can
be hundreds of birds actively feeding at the surface on what appears
to be sandeels. Shoals of very small fish have been noted on echo sounders
and fish finders of the whale watch operators vessels in the area too.
Manx Shearwaters have been observed in their hundreds performing their
characteristic feeding behaviour of patting the surface of the sea with
their feet like ballet dancers to bring their feed upto the surface.
All other seabird species have also been seen in this one small area,
Gannets, Storm Petrel, Kittiwake, gulls, Great Skua, Puffins, Razorbills,
Guillemots. The area has been active in this way now for over two weeks.
Bad weather prevented boats from going out on a few days but the whales
have been observed feeding here on all days the vessels have been out
at sea. The operators have noticed that it is not the same whales they
have been seeing the whole time. The whales can be individually identified
by scars and notches on their bodies and fins and the actual shape of
the dorsal fin. It appeared that the whales that were around for the
first week have moved on and new whales have moved inot the area. A
very large Mother with calf was spotted on 14/07/05 . Again we are seeing
the whales use different feeding behaviours, some will spectacularly
lunge forward through the water, where others will lunge on their back,
belly or straight up out of the water. Some appear to not even lunge
or break the surface, although we know the whales have fed as the birds
will all lift from the water suddenly and then all the feed in the water
has disappeared all at once. Then a whale will surface heading away
from the area.
One boat
operator observed a younger whale acting very strangely, it appeared
to be spyhopping around the feeding activity and then came in for a
lunge and then appeared to lunge again at a gull. Behaviour not witnessed
in these waters before now. The youngster was most probably playing
as opposed to trying to catch the bird to eat.
This kind
of activity does not usually start to build up until the last week of
July and into August and September. Although we are not necessarily
seeing an increase in number of whales, the feeding in the water is
definetly good for this time of year.
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26th June
- ENTANGLED MINKE
On the Sunday
the 26 th of June a dead Minke whale was reported to be entangled in
creel ropes and pots in Bloody bay to the North of Mull and Tobermory.
The whale was taken to Calve Island (in Tobermory Bay ) to be secured
against an unused mussel farm, until it could decided what the best
disposal method would be. The whale was a young adult female, about
7m long, which appeared to be in good health. A team from Sea Life Surveys
and Hebridean whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) took skin, muscle, baleen
and blubber samples, along with the stomach contents which were removed
and sieved. These were then sent to Bob Reid, the National Coordinator
for Scottish cetacean strandings for analysis. The stomach content appeared
to be perfectly normal and it is believed that the whale drowned. It
is thought to be the same whale that Sea Life Surveys has been seeing
on a regular basis during their whale watching trips in the North end
of the Sound of Mull. Photo-ID shots were taken of the dorsal fin and
will be downloaded and compared with existing identification catalogue
shots of minke whales from the area for any matches.
It is thought
that the rope between the pots has drifted up into the water column,
as opposed to lying flat on the seabed, and as whale was passing, possibly
feeding, with its mouth open, the rope became lodged between baleen
plates. This then probably caused the whale to panic and twist itself
up in the creel rope, thereby becoming more entangled. Three lines were
found in the whale mouth.
Creel fishing
is a commonly used fishing method throughout the Hebrides, and compared
to other fisheries such as scallop dredging and pair trawling it is
one of the most sustainable and selective methods for fishing. However,
the Scottish Agricultural College in Inverness who co-ordinate and investigate
marine mammal strandings on the coast of Scotland have found that since
1992, 7 of the 70 Minke whales strandings were believed to have died
from entanglement in creel ropes.
In the event
of any cetacean stranding in Scotland please contact one of the following
BDMLR - 01825
765546, Bob Reid – 01463 243030 or HWDT – 01688 302620.
Sarah Barry
HWDT Sightings
Officer
13th June - 30 bottlenose dolphins
Passengers
frequenting the Skipness to Loch Ranza (Isle of Arran) ferry have been
lucky enough to watch a large group of upto 30 Bottlenose Dolphins playing
and frolicking in the water for the past month. These animals will also
come within 6 foot of the shoreline, giving those on land good views.
It appears the group may split up frequently and groups as small as
2 have been spotted bowriding and playing. Reports have also been received
of these dolphins actively fishing in the Dunoon and Tarbet areas.
7th
June 05 - Minke Whale Breaching in Sound of Mull
A
minke whale was sighted in the Sound of Mull just off Calve Island off
Tobermory Bay . We have never experienced a Minke whale this far up
the Sound before so for this animal to breach upto 20 times was a huge
highlight for passengers on the Oban to Coll ferry. A week earlier a
Minke was sighted off the same ferry breaching at the entrance to the
Sound of Mull off Ardnamurchan Point.
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21st
May - Sperm Whale
A sperm whale
has been sighted recently within Hebridean waters of the Minch . The
huge toothed cetacean has been sighted in the area since April the 11
th . Last sighting reported to HWDT was on the 21 st of May, but we
are hoping to receive more.
Sperm whales
make up one of the 28 cetacean species listed as present within UK waters
but they are usually only ever sighted much further offshore in very
deep waters. They are deep feeding and residing creatures so it is unusual
that this species would spend such time closer in to shore.
1st
April - Pod of Dolphins
A sightings form was sent in by a spotter who sighted a pod of 20-30
dolphins on the 1st of April travelling South in the sound of Gigha.
Please keep sending your sightings in!
27th
March 05 - Ardnamurchan Minke Whale Sighting
A
minke whale was spotted from the ardnamurchan lighthouse going north
to south at 14:45. It stayed in the area for roughly an hour
surfacing from time to time. Ardnamurchan lighthouse is a wonderful
vantage point from which to look out for marine life.
27th
March - Dolphins sighted leaping in the sound of Gigha
At
15:00 hours a group of approximatley 20 to 30 dolphins were spotted
heading South in the sound of Gigha. They were seen leaping
out of the water and slapping the water with their tails. Fantastic
sighting!
20th
March - Killer Whales spotted
Two
Orcas were seen off the Isle of Lewis on the 20th of March.
The sightings report that was sent in said they were definitely Orcas
as he could see their distinctive dorsal fins behind a rocky outcrop.
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