Isle of Skye - Dunvegan to Portree
The first sight that met my eyes as I made my way out onto the deck was a massive white-tailed sea eagle low off the stern of Silurian. A brief scan revealed another. A pair had come down off the cliffs at Waternish Point, perhaps to investigate the same mass of birds that was the focus of our attention. There were dozens of kittiwakes, shearwaters, terns, razorbills, fulmars and guillemots along with some brightly colored puffins, magnificent plunge-diving gannets and the occasional harrying skua. All were intently feeding in one of the ephemeral localised foraging 'hotspots' that also lead to concentrations of whales and porpoises.The hydrophone was alive with the sounds of porpoises, though we only caught glimpses of them in the choppy seas. A neuston tow through the middle of the flock produced large numbers of bright green amphipods, large lobster and crab larvae and small fish of several types. This winter Kim will analyse the sample to see if it also contains plastic debris that animals may accidentally eat.

Through a steady cold rain shower off the north end of Skye a group of six porpoises were sighted that were so active they were initially thought to be dolphins. They were circling, splashing, and generally acting in a very un-porpoiselike manner suggesting that they may have found a good food supply. As the rain began to ease, a huge and intensely bright double rainbow formed to the west, while under the massive basaltic cliffs of the Aird at least two minke whales were seen. One of the minkes passed close down our starboard side, providing an excellent opportunity for all to get nice views of it and for me to get some identification photographs from an area that we have not sampled much in the past.

By 8:00 with the wind low, the seas nearly flat and Kate's kedgeree hot on the table, the anchorage at Staffin Island tempted us in. Unfortunately, the forecast was for strong northerly winds to arise overnight, an uncomfortable prospect in that situation, so we pressed on to Portree. As it turned out the two hour steam to Portree was magical and despite the brisk evening air it was nearly impossible to stay below. The sea was like glass. Porpoises were in sight nearly the entire passage and large plankton and small fish lept from the water ahead of the bow. Twilight over the craggy northwest coast of Skye lured many cameras out onto deck. After a warming round of hot chocolate in Portree, we collapsed into our bunks for a well deserved sleep.
Dr Peter Stevick
HWDT Scientific Director

Bottlenose Dolphin Survey 30th July
Position: 57’ 26.322’ N 006’ 35.374’ W
Skye. One of the most beautiful islands in the Outer Hebrides. One of the wildest ones. With fantastic wildlife including orchids, otters and eagles. With impressive cliffs that take your breath away. We were just approaching these when our attention was drawn to an amazing flock of feeding birds on the water. Roughly 100 kittiwakes, accompanied by gannets, puffins, razorbills and even Manx Shearwater seemed to have a feast fit for a king. Could we push our luck and hope for a whale? And there it was as we headed into Loch Dunvegan. A minke. Seen by everyone. Again and again, from quite close. Fantastic for photo ID and close up observation. But hold on, is that a scar or a fresh wound just behind its dorsal fin? And why does it keep turning on its side? And there it was still, unable to move away from us. Our initial elation turned rapidly into grave concern about what was wrong with this whale – it certainly wasn’t behaving normally. The whale was obviously exhausted as its blow was showing, which unlike most of the other baleen whales, isn’t usually visible with a Minke. Also, it was surfacing as if something was weighing it down. Positioned between two creel pots the likely explanation was that it had got its tail fluke caught in creel ropes and it was struggling to free itself. With the wild Skye winds blowing all around us, all we could do was inform the coastguard. If the whale lasts the night, they might possibly be able to do something in the morning. We can only carry on our journey to Dunvegan.

Dunvegan had looked such a lovely place to travel to this morning, when we packed our things up in Harris. Go out for a nice meal as a special treat, yum! The journey this afternoon across the Little Minch was rough but exciting. It was great fun having the sea blown into your face during observation. Despite being hardly able to stand, we were able to spot a minke whale. Even better, we finally found a basking shark, a baby one, too! It took no notice of our big fat boat whatsoever and carried on feeding all around us. We had plenty of opportunity to take plankton samples for our Oxford students as well. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. After all, it is fantastic work that we do, exhilarating and important. Just today we were confronted with its limits.
There will be nicer things to see again. Let’s hope.
Regina Meyer, HWDT Volunteer

Saturday 30th July
Position: 57’ 26.322’ N 006’ 35.374’ W
Skye. One of the most beautiful islands in the Outer Hebrides. One of the wildest ones. With fantastic wildlife including orchids, otters and eagles. With impressive cliffs that take your breath away. We were just approaching these when our attention was drawn to an amazing flock of feeding birds on the water. Roughly 100 kittiwakes, accompanied by gannets, puffins, razorbills and even Manx Shearwater seemed to have a feast fit for a king. Could we push our luck and hope for a whale? And there it was as we headed into Loch Dunvegan. A minke. Seen by everyone. Again and again, from quite close. Fantastic for photo ID and close up observation. But hold on, is that a scar or a fresh wound just behind its dorsal fin? And why does it keep turning on its side? And there it was still, unable to move away from us. Our initial elation turned rapidly into grave concern about what was wrong with this whale – it certainly wasn’t behaving normally. The whale was obviously exhausted as its blow was showing, which unlike most of the other baleen whales, isn’t usually visible with a Minke. Also, it was surfacing as if something was weighing it down. Positioned between two creel pots the likely explanation was that it had got its tail fluke caught in creel ropes and it was struggling to free itself. With the wild Skye winds blowing all around us, all we could do was inform the coastguard. If the whale lasts the night, they might possibly be able to do something in the morning. We can only carry on our journey to Dunvegan.

Dunvegan had looked such a lovely place to travel to this morning, when we packed our things up in Harris. Go out for a nice meal as a special treat, yum! The journey this afternoon across the Little Minch was rough but exciting. It was great fun having the sea blown into your face during observation. Despite being hardly able to stand, we were able to spot a minke whale. Even better, we finally found a basking shark, a baby one, too! It took no notice of our big fat boat whatsoever and carried on feeding all around us. We had plenty of opportunity to take plankton samples for our Oxford students as well. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. After all, it is fantastic work that we do, exhilarating and important. Just today we were confronted with its limits.
There will be nicer things to see again. Let’s hope.
Regina Meyer, HWDT Volunteer

Saturday 29th July
Anchored at Loch Bunaveneader, site of the famous Harris whaling station
Position: 57' 55.736' N 006' 50.842' W
Day of the whale…my first whale ever, and it was a humpback! Privileged, excited and gagging for some more whale action; that’s how I feel right now. Correction. I also feel mighty glad that we are all anchored up safely as the wind bish bash boshes about the boat.

We left our mooring this morning under clearish skies (some of it even blue) and we tootled out around the wee islands and islets, fish farms and pretty bays into the big blue. Easier said than done…Dave stopped to fix a mangled impellor in the engine room; Kim and I sampled our plankton and plastics respectively; numerous biscuits and cups of tea disappeared without trace…and then…the ‘Bottlenosed Dolphin Boys’ radioed to say they had just seen a humpback whale breach, just out of the inlet.

Lunch faded into insignificance as we headed out, eyes scanning the waves. Some were lucky enough to see it breach, others just the massive splash breaking the horizon with masses of white foam. Staying in the area for half an hour or so, we saw the animal surface again for air, its big blows loud enough to hear from a few hundred metres off, its sleek back disappearing beneath the waves once more. We continued South along the coast, as did our whale friend, it seemed, as we were treated to a final tail slap and view of its mighty flukes diving down as he journeyed on. Grand.

I didn’t think the day could get any better, though the icing on the cake was the few hours spent under sail this afternoon-the rumble of the engine silenced, leaving us to the warm wind and the mighty cliffs of Lewis. Lovely stuff. Then the rain came and the wind disappeared… The rain has since gone, yet the wind is still howling. Still no sign of those bottlenose dolphins…..
Irony has it that after beginning our fourth day of surveys with an amazing sighting of a humpback whale that we were to finish the day coming into anchor right outside an old whaling station, where in days gone by that same whale may have also ended its fate.

Sarah Outen, HWDT volunteer and Laura Mandleberg, HWDT Sightings Officer

Friday 28th July
Position: 58’ 11.650’N 006’ 56.228’W
Anchored at Floday, Loch Roag
We set off after breakfast from Taransay, the remote Hebridean Island where the first ‘fly on the wall’ TV documentary Castaway 2000 was filmed. Our intentions for the day were to head north to survey the rugged and barren west coast of Lewis, an area where very little work on cetaceans has been carried out. The remoteness of this coast and the hostile seas which thrash straight in from the Atlantic make this a very difficult area to survey. The prospect of discovering an unknown resident group of bottlenose dolphins along these coasts filled everyone with anticipation.
So, despite the bleak weather conditions the day started with considerable excitement in the air, a word very popular among some volunteers! However, this changed very rapidly some hours later when we encountered rough seas 10 miles off the coast off Lewis causing some green faces to appear among the volunteers.
No bottlenose dolphins to be found yet but our trip out here was made worth while as a group of white beaked dolphins were spotted by Peter, our Science Officer and 2 Minke whales, a porpoise and 3 seals were also sighted. After a hard day battling with the swell and green-faced volunteers, we slowly made our way back in to the more sheltered waters of Loch Roag, a welcome refuge in this huge expanse of water they call the Atlantic. Dave the skipper guided us through all the fish and mussel farms in amongst the pretty islands and islets of Loch Roag. Whilst we were looking for a suitable place to drop the anchor we were watched closely by locals as they peered out of their kitchen windows giving us a sense that we were medieval sea-farers from distant shores.
We were later joined for dinner by Simon and Ross who had been braving the big waves in thier small rubber boat all day and had earned a healthy portion of spag bol.
John Kirkwood, HWDT Volunteer and Laura Mandleberg, HWDT Sightings Officer