Bottlenose dolphins at breakfast during eighth research expedition of 2023
THE TEAM JOINING our eighth research expedition left tobemory to monitor hebridean seas onboard our research vessel - silurian. six SPECIES OF MARINE MAMMAL WERE recorded during the seven days of survey. BELOW, THE VOLUNTEERS ON BOARD RECALL THEIR EXPEDITION…
DAY 1
Despite being awoken by heavy rain, the day turned out glorious. After being joined by a grey seal and harbour porpoise for breakfast, Silurian ventured out of Tobermory towards the Small Isles. Sunny skies and a nice sailing breeze carried Silurian to its first major sighting – a small group of minke whales. With whale! was called as two adults and a possible juvenile were spotted in the distance. It was wonderful to see the whales surfacing so close to the boat and one even put on a lunge feeding show.
After collecting what we needed for photo ID we continued onwards and spotted a pod of at least 50 dolphins. Sadly they seemed on a mission and didn’t stop to say hello, but it was lovely to see them splashing and leaping toward their destination. A further minke whale was spotted in the distance along with smaller groups of common dolphins and a few bottling grey seals just enjoying the rare Scottish sun. Anchoring in the sandy Bay of Laig on Eigg, Silurian completed its first day underway with a total of 17 sightings. In all, a great sunny day sailing (where even suncream was required!) with a terrific lunch soup and curry dinner. Onwards to tomorrow!!
DAY 2
Yesterday we breakfasted with seals and porpoises, today it was bottlenose dolphins! An excellent start to a great sunny day as the seven dolphins swam and splashed their way around Silurian, swimming right under the boat! We headed out of Eigg towards Rum and were greeted with another small pod of common dolphins swimming in the opposite direction. We continued around Rum eating the very popular second breakfast, heading towards the Outer Hebrides. A few grey seals, a harbour porpoise, more common dolphins, and a mysterious big splash were all called along the way. The weather remained sunny despite the forecasted showers, and I think it’s safe to say most aboard Silurian have developed a good glowy wind-whipped face. Anchoring in the North Barra Bay, we spent the evening exploring ashore and enjoying the scenery with the local seals singing for company!
DAY 3
We were sent off on our way out of North Bay by our friend the grey seal this morning, the sun shining. The high hopes of the day for a dolphin show did not come to pass HOWEVER we had many a seal and bird encounter. We had a great sail towards Tiree and were swarmed with Shags in Gunna Sound, counting 149 only within the survey range. So, it’s safe to say Bird Bingo was successfully completed! Despite, the lack of dolphin sightings, we did hear them whistling away to each other on the hydrophone which was great to detect. Those aboard Silurian arrived at Gott Bay in good spirits, windswept and ready for tea and tonights game of Bananagrams.
DAY 4
The day started well as we were waved off by an adult grey seal and pup, looking really cute and fluffy. It was bird-crazy today, with many different species spotted in big swarms swooping and diving around the waves. Big shoutout to Brian the skipper who spotted our minke whale encounter of the day by a water fluke. The minke surfaced several times and came extremely close to the boat, almost as if it was bow-riding for a brief moment. Common dolphins were also spotted bow riding and heard whistling happily away on the hydrophone. Silurian is anchored in a bay on Oronasy, which had a lovely beach and priory. Two of the group even went for a swim, braving the cold water. Bangers and mash for tea, a good hearty meal to prepare those aboard Silurian ready for another day surveying!
DAY 5
6 am was an early start for us all, as Silurian had to sail from Oronasy before the tides changed. There was a strong swell with waves coming over the bow of the boat washing the faces of the volunteers on the mast, very invigorating. Lizzie spotted flocks of birds including over 300 guillemots and lots of kittiwakes. Bruce treated us all to a gourmet lunch of butternut squash risotto and Helen baked a delicious lemon drizzle cake.
We sailed through the Sound of Jura, enjoying beautiful views of both Islay and Jura and all of their distilleries, Norman was very disappointed that we didn’t stop for a wee dram. Continuing up the east of Jura, lots of excited birds gave us the heads up that there was a feeding minke whale about. We turned towards Crinan and as the day turned to sunshine and blue skies, we anchored at the end of the Crinan canal.
We all got very excited at the prospect of showers and Bruce shipped us ashore in the tender, 3 at a time. It was so warm and sunny that we enjoyed sitting on the slip to dry our hair. Following a hearty supper of mash, beans, and sausages; Brian gave us a very informative talk about his adventures all around the world with many different types of cetacea including North Atlantic right whales, right whale dolphins, killer whales, and humpbacks. Our day was then completed by a magical sunset, how lucky are we!
DAY 6
We awoke to a grey sky at the bay of Crinan, but there was no wind and the sea was calm, a perfectly quiet morning. It’s World Orca Day and ever hopeful that we would spot one, we ate a hearty breakfast and got ready for our stations. We sailed towards the Gulf of Corryvreckan, all excited to see the biggest whirlpool in Scotland, a wee bit nervous too. Crossing the Corryvreckan we spotted a harbour porpoise and grey and common seals. The water around the whirlpool was strangely calm, as it was pushed through into the sea on the way back over towards the Ross of Mull.
The great conditions continued as we spotted minke whales and went “with whale” more than once, Brian’s spicy lentil soup kept us going as we sailed along the Ross of Mull, all very excited with our sightings. Silurian sailed slowly through the Sound of Iona and we were all eager to see the view of the Abbey. As we exited the Sound, we spotted a harbour porpoise, lots of creels and many seabirds.
With Staffa and the Treshnish Islands on our left, shouts went up as we spotted big splashes in the distance, eventually sighting, two groups of common dolphins, porpoises, and an unidentified cetacean. We came to Anchor at Gometra. Helen had baked a delicious apple cake and we all settled down with cups of tea to celebrate a very successful day of sightings.
DAY 7
Sad to be leaving for our final morning of the survey, we passed the Treshnish Isles once again and admired the beautiful scenery of Mull through the dreich weather. The first few hours of effort were quiet with only an unidentified seal spotted from the mast, Hannah spotted a minke whale within the swell but sadly not to be seen again.
Heading closer towards Glengorm estate a flock of birds feeding ahead produced our final fin-tastic sighting of the survey - a lunge-feeding minke whale! Surfacing around Silurian everyone onboard had fabulous views of our final encounter of the trip as we headed towards the multicoloured town of Tobermory.
Across 7 days, the group surveyed 323 miles of Hebridean waters encountering 6 different species of marine mammals acorss 50 hours of data collection.
