Remote parts of the Hebrides surveyed during fifth research expedition
MONITORING HEBRIDEAN SEAS IS WELL UNDERWAY, WITH SILURIAN - OUR RESEARCH VESSEL - COMPLETING HER FIFTH EXPEDITION OF THE 2022 SUMMER FIELD SEASON. SOME GREAT CONDITIONS ALLOWED US TO GATHER DATA FROM SOME OF THE MORE REMOTE AND EXPOSED PARTS OF OUR STUDY AREA. HERE CRAIG MACKIE, SCIENCE OFFICER ON BOARD, RECALLS THE EXPEDITION…
Day 1
We were greeted by flat seas and blue skies for the first day of the expedition, with Loch Broom mirroring the surrounding mountains and boats in Ullapool harbour. Around mid-day, after a hearty first day breakfast, we left Ullapool in our wake as skipper, Charlie, got us underway. We headed northwards up the coast through the beautiful Summer Isles, as the crew got to grips with the callouts of the many creel buoys we passed. We made our way outwards into the Minch, before turning and heading up to our anchorage in Loch Roe, where we would stay the first night. Sadly, there were no sightings on the first day but a beautiful days sailing still kept all on board happy.
Day 2
The second day of the expedition started with a bang, as two pods of common dolphins were spotted almost as soon as we exited the loch - totalling around 40 animals. We headed out to cross the Minch on our way to the isle of Lewis, spotting several seals and porpoise along the way. We made it into an amazing little anchorage near loch Erisort where the volunteers took the opportunity to explore the small islands dotted around us, one volunteer in particular, Richard, was very pleased to have found some otters poo whilst exploring and took some photos for us all to enjoy around the dinner table. As the evening drew on we learned that another of our volunteers, Bill (a veteran of Silurian who was partaking in his 11th voyage with us), was a keen tai chi enthusiast and offered to give us a lesson. Stepping onto the foredeck the volunteers and crew all took part in the session under a beautiful sunset over the hills of Lewis.
Day 2
Another day, another crossing of the Minch, we spent the morning passing by the amazing Tiumpan head near Stornaway, a favourite place for land watchers. The calm seas allowed for some trips up the crows nest with Caroline - our 4th crew for the week and summer volunteer with the Trust - enjoying an hour or two with great views over the flat seas. It wasn’t long before she got her first sighting from up there either as the fin of a white beaked dolphin emerged close to the boat. The dolphins took a quick swim over to the boat, giving good views of their amazing, bright white patterns, before playfully breaching several times. We kept heading Northeast where we settled in for the night near Oldshoemore, by Eileen an Ròin Mòr, meaning “Island of the great seal” - sadly, the great seal did not make an appearance whilst we were there.
Day 4
Day 4 would be the longest day of sailing we had through the expedition, as we planned to head from the northwest of the mainland across the Butt of Lewis. The day started quietly with very little showing for the first few hours, but before too long more white beaked dolphins showed themselves breaching and splashing into the waves around the boat. They moved on and we continued our journey west. Voyaging round the Butt of Lewis was an exciting prospect, and as we neared it the seas started to come alive with hundreds of seabirds beginning to feed in the surrounding waters. Before long, a fin pierced the water amongst the commotion, a Risso’s dolphin, 3 more fins then showed themselves and before long we were blessed with some amazing breaches with the lighthouse as the backdrop. After leaving the Risso’s behind us, we headed down the west coast of Lewis towards Bernera, which would be the anchorage for this evening. The anchorage did not disappoint as a golden eagle welcomed us in and cuckoos flew over the stern of the boat.
Day 5
On the 5th day of the expedition, we would be heading even further west towards the Flannan Isles - a group of islands famous for the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900. On the way there we were once again joined by a small pod of white beaked dolphins, playfully leaping around before quickly heading off. We arrived at the Flannans, where the volunteers and crew alike were stunned by the sheer numbers of seabirds in the area with gannets, kittwakes and puffins numbering in their thousands. Turning back and heading back to the isle of Lewis we recorded our first two minke whales of the trip, with one rising very close to the boat before quickly disappearing. We arrived at the evenings anchorage to white sandy beaches and turquoise blue waters leading many of the volunteers to think that the skipper had forgotten to turn fully at the Flannans and kept going to the Caribbean. However, a quick dip into the water proved that we were still, in fact, in Scotland.
Leaving the beautiful island of Scarp behind us we headed south towards the Monach isles, which would be our destination for the day. Although we had a quiet start, other than a few seals, we were soon all excited to spot a fin flopping around on the surface of the water and after a few moments we managed to identify that it was a sunfish, the largest bony fish in the world and one that is usually only seen a handful of times every year in Scottish waters. The sunfish had, in fact, been a major topic of conversation throughout the week with the main question, “what is the point of a sunfish?” becoming a bit of a philosophical topic amongst crew and volunteers. We arrived at the Monachs in good spirits and were welcomed by several of the grey seals which colonise the island.
Day 7 would see us heading back inside the Outer Hebrides, through the sound of Harris. Many seals and porpoise were spotted on our way to Lochmaddy on the isle of North Uist where the volunteers and crew were excited to get on shore for a good stretch of the legs as well as a shower and drink in the local bar.
With the weather set to change the next day was a mad dash to the north of Skye. We had been lucky so far in that we’d had relatively calm seas and no rain up to this point but this was to change over the next few days with winds rising and clouds forming. Making our way up the little Minch the sightings were few and far between other than some very distant dolphins spotted by the sharp-eyed volunteers. We headed northeast past Fladda Chuain, where arctic skuas were seen harassing a group of terns, into Rubha Hunish on the very northern tip of Skye where we hunkered down for a very windy night.
It was the second to last day of survey and the seas had finally turned. The minch had changed from the flat sun kissed waters of the previous week to a torrent of waves, rain and strong gusts. It was quickly decided that today would be an “off effort” day and the crew and volunteers hunkered down in the cockpit and enjoyed some of the more “exciting” aspects of sailing in the Hebrides. We were, on several occasions, joined by small pods of common dolphins surfing through the waves around us and bowriding in front of the boat. We finally made it into the shelter of Loch Ewe where we would spend our last night at anchor together.
We left loch Ewe the next morning and headed east under similar conditions that we’d had the previous day. Heading along to loch Broom we were escorted by several great skuas as they seemingly flew sideways in the strong southerly winds. Volunteer Michelle bravely took charge of the helm for a while and navigated us into safety in the shelter of the loch. It had been a great trip and the volunteers were happy to get a night of drinks and pizzas to celebrate an amazing expedition around Lewis and Harris.
