Silurian is HWDTs research and education vessel.

Most weeks April through October she is either monitoring the waters of the west coast of Scotland for whales, dolphins, and porpoises, or serving as a floating classroom for one of the many Argyll island primary and secondary schools.

Read the log below to find out what Silurian and her crew have been up to each week and all about the whales, dolphins and porpoises they spot!  To find out about the latest marine life sightings spotted elsewhere, click here.

If you would like to send the crew an e-mail with your questions click here.

Click here to view the Silurian Log archive.

Marine workshops were delivered to Islay High School students on board Silurian again today. Students investigated the boat, learned about our research programme and the specialist equipment involved, as well as learning about marine life big and small.

We invited students who are studying Intermediate Biology and Managing Environmental Resources aboard in the morning. Here are some of their thoughts:

‘Today I learnt how much equipment is used for research and how advanced it has to be’ Iain Farrell
‘Today I Learnt how not to hold a crawfish!’ Sam Johnston
‘Today I learnt the noises the seals, whales and the crawfish make’ Stefan Robertson
‘I will remember Iain getting soaked by the lobster’ Thomas Coughlin
‘What I really liked about today was seeing the lobster, crawfish and crabs. The lobster was a lovely colour and the crawfish was much bigger than I had expected’ Eilidh
‘I enjoyed today because I learnt how whales and dolphins locate each other, their food and predators by only sound’ Ryan McEachern
‘I enjoyed coming on the boat today. It was fab! I learned a lot of new things – crawfish are huge! Amy Dunnachie

This afternoon we continued joined by an enthusiastic group of Higher Biology students:

‘I enjoyed the day on Silurian as it was both fun and informative’ Sandy Machellan
‘I enjoyed today because I learnt many new things’ Robert Torrance
‘I enjoyed today because we had a really good laugh. I learnt a lot about marine life, which they made fun’ Jenny Williams
‘I enjoyed today because I got to hold lots of interesting sea animals’ Anon.
‘My experience on Silurian was brilliant and I have learned new ways to identify dolphins which are common around Islay. I loved handling the different sea creatures and learning about them too’ Sarah Scott
‘I will remember the huge crawfish’ Sean

# posted by HWDT @ 9:38 AM

Silurian Log Archives