Wild weather and cetaceans marked the fourth expedition of 2022
We’re well underway with our monitoring Hebridean seas this year, with Silurian, our research vessel, completing her fourth expedition of the 2023 summer field season. Some challenging conditions didn't dampen the spirits of the fantastic citizen scientists who joined us on board…the encounters with whales, dolphins and porpoises helped too! Here Hannah, our Science Officer on board, gives an update of the expedition.
DAY 1
Citizen scientists Jess, John, Alison, Sandra, Gill and Sheena joined Silurian for HWDT04 from Mallaig. After getting to know one another and enjoying a delicious meal cooked by 4th crew Brian, the decision was made to push through the scientific presentations and safety briefings that evening to take advantage of the good weather window the next day. Everyone headed to bed filled with information and excitement about the marine mammals we could possibly encounter during our week surveying the Hebrides.
DAY 2
The next day, the weather delivered as promised and we started Day 2 with almost excellent sighting conditions - beautiful sun and a calm sea! Things got off to an exciting start, with quite a few early sightings – a harbour porpoise and a grey seal to see us out of Mallaig, but little did we know what was in store. After a few hours getting the hang of the different roles on board Silurian, Pippa brought out a lovely lunch, which apparently all the cetaceans in the Hebrides were also invited to as they turned out in abundance!
First to the lunch table were the harbour porpoises – we logged several sightings in quick succession. Soon afterwards, we started to see groups of birds ahead including some diving gannets, and these were quickly followed by our first whale sighting of the trip. Shouts of “with whale, with whale!” sent a ripple of excitement through the crew and volunteers. A minke whale with its long back rising slowly out of the water, quite near the gannets, remained visible for several minutes, giving everyone a chance to get a glimpse. More minke whales followed, including several sightings quite close to the boat. We even heard one surfacing to breathe but encountered none of the stinky minke smell we’d been expecting!
Even before things had calmed down from the minke sightings, we started noticing lots of splashes quite far out in the distance. A large group of common dolphins were moving past us, with some fully breaching as they travelled! More common dolphin sightings were called in quick succession, until we realised that what we’d encountered was one huge group, numbering in the hundreds! Surrounded by dolphins in all directions, it wasn’t long before some started bow riding, staying with the boat for over an hour, so close that we could hear their whistles.
The final half hour of effort calmed things down, with everyone taking in what we’d all seen. Nial and Hannah decided to drop anchor a little early, due to how manic and productive the day’s effort had been. We all needed some time to sit around and talk about what we’d encountered – and finally eat lunch for some of us! Anchored in Loch Harport on the west of Skye, Sheena mustered all those who wanted to have a dip in the Hebridean sea whilst others looked over videos and pictures of the epic day we had just encountered!
DAY 3
We started ‘On Effort’ at 9am, promptly, sad to leave beautiful Loch Harport but excited for the day ahead. Carefully navigated by Skipper Nial, we set off across the Sea of Hebrides south of The Little Minch aiming for South Uist. Early into the day we had an unverified sighting, possibly a minke playing hard to see! Crossing to the Outer Hebrides was beginning to get breezy and was the perfect opportunity to switch the engine off and sail under the power of the wind. Soon after, Silurian was joined by 3 common dolphins who bow rode for a short period before heading off to calmer waters.
Unlike yesterday, we had the additional challenge of bird and boat observation, but with our extensive training from Hannah the previous evening we felt very well prepared. There was a real sense of achievement amongst the volunteers who were able to correctly ID sea birds such as shags, fulmars, gannets, razorbills, guillemots and kittiwakes at a distance!
With the swell rising to 2m and visibility reducing, the conditions started to get even more exciting, but sadly meant there were less recorded visual observations. Throughout the day, we were fed with the most sumptuous feasts, starting with Brian’s Brekkie Bonanza, followed by what has now become a staple, the ‘Second Breakfast’ - Pippa’s Perfect Pick Me Up. This was followed by Pippa’s scrumptious secret family recipe for Tuscan Bean Soup. I think it’s fair to say that most of the volunteers found the sea conditions quite challenging but with a regular supply of tea and biscuits, some shift swapping, general kindness and consideration from the fabulous crew, and a bucket or 2, it was overcome! We were advised that we should just keep eating, stay hydrated and that calories in food don’t exist whilst on board. Surprisingly, it really does work.
DAY 4
Fortified by another delicious breakfast laid on by Brian, we lifted the muddy anchor from the Wizard’s Pool at South Uist, and with sails hoisted we set off into the Little Minch. Intentions were good with blue skies and sun as we headed to the mast and started ‘on effort’…but not for long! Due to the ‘exhilarating’ nature of big winds and seas the decision was made to come off visual effort and we all huddled up in the cockpit as winds of 30-40 knots and swells of 2.5m crashed around us. The dreich weather remained with us for the next few hours but that wasn’t enough to dampen spirits. Hannah led singalongs, while Nial navigated through to the lee of Skye’s west coast where we were surprised to be joined, briefly by 5 common dolphins.
By 11:30 conditions allowed for us to return to visual effort as we past Neist Point - a fantastic location for land based watching - and onwards towards our next anchorage in Loch Snizort. Despite no further cetacean sightings, we were treated to lots of seabirds. The stars of the show were the many puffins - a first sighting of this colourful wee bird for some of the volunteers. As well as puffins, we encountered guillemots, great skuas, gannets, razorbills, fulmars, terns, and plenty of gulls. Towards the end of the day everyone on board had gained their sea legs and had mastered the skill of the science station, as well as eating multiple breakfasts! The evening was spent sitting together with mugs of hot drinks, eating rum and raisin cake, chatting about the day whilst the rain hammered down on the saloon roof - some even enjoyed a wee dram, wondering what tomorrow would bring!
DAY 5
The day dawned bright and clear with an ominous rain cloud fast approaching the stern. We were briefed that the seas would be choppy and we would try and spend as much time on visual effort as possible, but we would have to see how the day progressed. We set sail north aiming to get around the tip of Skye, where we were told it would potentially be more exposed to high winds and rough seas, and down into the Sound of Raasay – a great spot usually for harbour porpoises. Unfortunately, we got all the rough weather and none of the marine mammals. With the volunteers on the mast becoming more and more horizontal the decision was made to come off visual effort until conditions improved. The food was the highlight of the day. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd breakfasts kept coming, followed by Pippa’s Thai lentil soup, which lead to the best animal encounter of the day when a pair of Great Skuas, also known as Bonxies, tailing the boat for a good half an hour with their eyes on the soupy prize. By early afternoon we had sung every song anyone knows, which finally brought the sun back out.
Back on visual effort we went with high stakes; a twirl for the first person to spot a marine mammal. News came in that John Coe and Aquarius, two killer whales from the West Coast Community had been spotted off Mull heading north, giving us a boost of hope that we could have a cetacean sighting that day, sadly, it wasn’t meant to be.
Arriving at our anchorage Broadford, that evening we held our very first maritime nuptials in the saloon led by Father McAllister. John had planned to propose to his partner (and now wife) Jess onboard Silurian in 2020 that was cancelled and re-scheduled due to the pandemic. The wedding party started with a dinner reception of veggie haggis, neeps, and tatties, followed by ‘vows’ on the companion way including tossing the handmade bouquet, a wedding photoshoot on the bow and a ceilidh to conclude the evenings celebrations!!
DAY 6 + 7
After the previous evenings wedding excitement, the group awoke in high spirits ready for the final day of survey back to Mallaig. Sighting conditions had improved, and we were treated to two brief unknown seal sightings as we headed under the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge followed by a harbour porpoise sighting crossing the bow as we headed further into Loch Alsh. Sailing through Kyle Rhea, those on relay kept their eyes extra peeled as we passed prime territory for eagles, whilst those off effort marvelled at the Skye Ferry – the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world! Nearing Mallaig, the opposing tide and wind created incredible currents highlighting the importance of understanding tide times and navigating through this passage at the correct time to ensure we stick to survey protocols and travel between 5-7knots - as Science Officer Hannah always says, ‘we’re all about the science!!’. About to dock at Mallaig we were greeted by our final sighting of the survey – a very close grey seal swimming alongside the pontoons! A great final spot for the group. After the boat had been cleaned and made ‘ship shape’, the group went ashore for a celebratory meal and pub quiz in which the team aptly named ‘stinky minkes’ came second!!
Thank you so much to Jess, John, Alison, Sandra, Gill, and Sheena for joining us onboard Silurian who had a wet and wild week with some incredible sightings! HWDT04 covered 205.3miles, completed 31 hours of data collection and had 38 individual marine mammal sightings!
The track lines of survey effort undertaken during the expedition