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The first expedition marked the start of the 2024 summer field season and despite some challenging weather - namely Storm Kathleen - the crew and team of citizen scientists monitored areas of the Southern Hebrides and recorded five species of marine mammal.
Read MoreThe Big Green Give Match Fund is live! Donate now to ensure our Whale Track community can continue to protect whales and dolphins in Scottish seas.
Read MoreThis April, thanks to support from The Waterfall Fund and Baillie Gifford, we will be setting sail around Mull to welcome schools aboard our research vessel, Silurian. HWDT’s education team are also inviting local communities to join them aboard during our drop-in open boat events.
Read MoreToday HWDT trustees announce that they have appointed Helen Stace to succeed Juliana Butler as the new Chair of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust.
Read MoreZoe Stevenson, a member of the Whale Track community who reports sightings whilst working with Hebrides Cruises, shares some highlight lunge feeding minke sightings, including one, thanks to a rather unusual tip off
Coastguard exercise © Zoe Stevenson
Read MoreAs signs of spring are beginning to appear and everyone is looking forward to the season ahead, we take a look back at what was a wonderful winter for watching.
©Western Isles Cruises
Read MoreKiller whales hold a special wonder for many people and in recent years, John Coe and Aquarius of the West Coast Community have become local celebrities. Morven, our Communications Manager, has followed the story of the plight of these killer whales for many years. Here she shares what has been uncovered about the group since she began working at the Trust…
Read MoreWe welcomed a number of wildlife tour providers and boat operators to our first ever Whale Track Boat Operator Event, sharing good practice and celebrating the contributions these companies make to marine science.
Read MoreOur winter survey programme on board Silurian, our research vessel, has been running since 2019 and aims to understand more about the year-round presence of whales, dolphins and porpoises in Hebridean seas.
Read MoreThe International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force announced 33 new Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) within the Northeast Atlantic and Baltic Sea.
Read MoreOur winter survey programme on board Silurian has been running since 2019, trying to understand more about the year-round presence of marine vertebrates within the Hebridean seas. these surveys are important given that before the start of the programme, little winter data existed for the region. below, the team onboard the first winter survey of this year, give an update…
Read MoreMany of us have little comprehension of how noisy the aquatic world is, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a peaceful environment…it’s anything but! Our seas and oceans are a cacophony of sound and getting increasingly noisier, as human activity intensifies the soundscape.
Read MoreFollowing a public consultation in 2023, the Scottish Government have announced a ban on industrial sandeel fishing in Scottish waters ahead of the 2024 fishery season in March. The move is especially important for species that rely on sandeels as an important component of their diet, such as harbour porpoise and minke whale.
Read More2023 was a record-breaking year for marine conservation charity the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) and their Whale Track community of citizen scientists. For the first time in the Trusts 30-year history, over 10,000 sightings of whales, dolphins, porpoises and basking sharks were reported by members of the public in one year.
Read MoreLynsey Bland, a member of the Whale Track community, shares a sighting from a particularly memorable autumn day.
Minke whale © Lynsey Bland
Read MoreWith the nights drawing in and the frost settling on the ground, winter is well and truly upon us, so we take a look back at a jam packed autumn of sightings.
©Zoltan Around the Globe
Read MoreLong-term monitoring is the foundation of effective conservation. At HWDT we talk about long-term monitoring a lot but what is it and why is it such an important part of wildlife conservation?
Read MoreFor many, summer is the time to get out and watch for the abundance of marine wildlife that migrate into our seas each year, but winter is still an exciting and important time to have your eyes on the sea.
Our Education and Sightings Officer, Sadie, dives deeper into why winter watching is so important, encouraging everyone to don their raincoats and woolly hats and #EmbraceYourWhaledSide, dedicating some time to watch from land.
Read MoreOver 90 people joined an expedition during the 2023 field season. Trained in data collection and survey protocol, these citizen scientists joined a community of people - stretching back over 20 years - helping to improve the understanding of whales, dolphins, porpoises and basking sharks off Scotland’s west coast and safeguard them for future generations.
Read MorePhotography has never been so accessible; the development of camera technology in our phones and the affordability of professional kit means more people than ever can take amazing photos. But did you know…for decades photos have been a fundamental resource in driving forward our understanding of whales and dolphins.
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