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.
Location: Loch na droma bhuidhe, Sunart
Position: 56’ 39 N 005’ 56.0 W
Six volunteers (Graham, Stephen, Phil, Madeleine, Christine and Mike) joined Silurian on the evening of Tuesday 4th Sept for a briefing ahead of our 7 day trip (and a very welcome supper prepared by Matt our first mate). After the formalities we visited the pub at the end of the jetty for a couple of beers (and Irish whiskey!) Our first morning was taken up with an introduction and presentation by Laura about the marine wildlife of the West Coast and an insight into the work of the Trust. We then got to work on a miserable rainy day accompanied by Simon and Andy, two photographers whose remit was to document the work of Silurian on behalf of the Nadair Trust, one of HWDT’s major sponsors. Activity was slow at the beginning then we were surrounded by a number of separate groups of harbour porpoise, with one group of about 10 individuals coming very close to the boat under sail. Simon and Andy made the most of a rainy day, both climbing the crow’s nest to get best vantage points. We learnt how to report the sightings and input them into the database – an altogether busy day taking in much new information. We headed to Loch Sunart to anchor close to Carna and Oronsay with the waft of a very exotic sausage dish prepared by Mike! Notable challenge of the day was Mike’s climb up to the crow’s nest despite a fear of heights. However, once up there it proved difficult to get him to come down again!
Christine (AKA Laura’s Mum and HWDT volunteer)
# posted by HWDT @ 4:44 AM
