Saving the best til last (day) on board our thirteenth research expedition
THE TEAM ONBOARD our THIRTEENTH research expedition of 2023 left TObermory and MONITORED the WATERS OfF THE SOUTHERN HEBRIDES. OVER NINE DAYS, CITIZEN SCIENTISTS ONBOARD ENCOUNTERED FIVE SPECIES OF MARINE MAMMALS ACROSS 101 SIGHTINGS. READ ALL ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES…
DAY 1 + DAY 2
Volunteers Pam, Iphthime, Tilly, Emily, Neil, and Katherine join the crew, Skipper Emma, Science Officer Hannah, First Mate, Bruce, and 4th crew Ronnie for this 13th adventure of the season. The evening was spent training in Tobermory harbour, a lot of information but everyone was eager to get started, followed by a delicious bolognese for tea cooked by Ronnie!
After more training the following morning, we set off just before midday - which felt a lot later because of all the information absorbed as well as getting kitted out in our wet weather gear. Hannah spotted a pod of common dolphins whilst on the mooring, which interrupted the on-deck training led by Skipper Emma! Sadly, we were all too slow and the waves were too big to spot them!
We turned right out of Tobermory and into an exceeding amount of sea traffic, lots of course changes as a result. We were overtaken by the RNLI lifeboat who went to the cruise ship Queen Victoria for a training exercise, it dwarfed them.
Emily spotted the first porpoise! This set a tone of excitement. Not long after 3 more were spotted to the righthand side. Next creels started to come in thick and fast and bottling seals who didn’t hang around for too long. Coming into Loch Spelve, Tilly and Neil were welcomed by an oversized otter (seal!). No golden eagles sadly but maybe in the morning, there was a very close fly by Artic Skua though. Looking forward to going ashore to collect mussels to eat tonight as Emma offered to cook her dad’s recipe!
DAY 3
We woke up this morning greeted by common seals hauled out on a rock next to the boat. There was also a diver (bird not human) alongside the seals, and it had caught an eel. This had us all excited for the day ahead. After an early breakfast of delicious porridge, cereals, and toast, we set off! We turned right and headed towards the Garvellachs and Colonsay. We spotted harbour porpoises and a seal along our way! Everyone was kept well fed, and lots of tea too. There were a few storm petrels on the water and flying around the boat – a first for a few onboard.
We were greeted by many common dolphins, which were very inquisitive of the boat, and came to bow ride! We came off effort for 10 minutes so everyone got a chance to watch the dolphins as they leaped out of the water. Some even managed to listen to the dolphins from the science station and heard lots of echolocation clicks and a few whistles!
We managed to miss most of the bad weather as we headed into the Sound of Islay, where the hydrophone was pulled in as it is too shallow. The beautiful scenery of Islay and Jura delighted us all! There were lots of swans surprisingly along the shoreline, and many sea birds in the water too. There were common and grey seals in the water and hauled out. Rounding Jura, heading north we had lovely glimpses of sunshine, and some people even took off their sailing jackets! There were lots of creels spotted along the way, which the volunteers are now confident at identifying. We are anchoring at Craighouse tonight. Tilly and Neil are making a delicious dinner for us whilst we do the chores. The plan is to head to shore to get a dram at the local pub, and hopefully try some Jura whisky!
DAY 4
A restful night’s sleep for all (except for the interruption of dreams of creels)! An early start was greeted with rainbows over the pub where tasty whisky was consumed (and Pam’s burger!) the night before. Passed the lighthouse on the clifftop on Islay, with its brightly painted white walls. Multiple porpoises were spotted straight away, by our volunteers on the mast. Then, a spectacular triple-feeding frenzy was passed either side of the boat. No larger marine life was spotted even with the bird clues. Tilly however was kept very busy inputting the bird data!
Common dolphins came past the boat. The calves were having a lot of fun jumping and playing. Always a joy to see! Later we saw another seal spotted by Katherine whilst she was on relay recording birds and boats. We were very happy to discover that we got the furthest south that any of this year’s groups have managed so that was fantastic news. A change of direction plans due to the weather. Things got very choppy in the afternoon crossing to Gigha, which is an absolutely beautiful place, magical - the name means God’s Island. Plans are afoot to go to the pub this evening, via a special well - if a sailor throws the well water in the same direction as the sought after wind, they will get the fair weather wanted (albeit if they also leave payment by the well!).
DAY 5
Delighted with a slight lie-in this morning with breakfast at 7:30! The day started with lots of creels as we sailed north past Gigha. As we came out of the shelter of the island, the wind and sea state picked up. Lots of feeding seabirds were seen – gannets, kittiwakes, gulls, and shearwaters – but unfortunately no cetaceans. We got the sails up and turned the engine off for a short time. We headed across from the Point of Knapp, towards Jura, and up past the Gulf of Coryvecken through many squalls. Sighting conditions were difficult – volunteers at the mast were clinging on for dear life!! We did manage to do more sailing – with too much speed at some points!
Past the gulf, we headed towards Loch Melfort. Coming past Shuna volunteers on the mast (Pam and Iphthime), relay (Katherine), and the science station (Emily) were inundated with creels – but with excellent teamwork recorded them! Just at the entrance to Loch Melfort two harbour porpoises were spotted by Tilly (who was in the science station at the time and just popped her head out to record environment status) – our first and only sighting of the day.
We travelled around Shuna, sighting yet more creels (90!), and looked at anchoring in Tobernochy, Luing. There was no space left, so we headed back down (past all the same creels?!) with the tide to Gallanach Bay, Loch Crinan.
DAY 6
This morning was kicked off by spotting an Osprey nest near our anchorage! It was Tilly that was the first to hear and spot them with everyone else spotting them later from the deck. We were treated to overnight oats and amazing French toast with blueberries made by Emma. Due to the tides, we set off much later than usual today, so we had a hearty breakfast to start the day. We set off back towards Mull today and got a closer view of the amazing cliffs, and Pam’s cave. The tidal flows along the way made for very interesting views and sailing! Along with several creels along the way.
The sun shined for us all day today, so we competed with some strong glare at points. I’m sure we have all got a lovely tan (or burned) from today! We finished surveying after 6 pm but the sun is still shining for us! As we headed out of the Sound of Iona we saw where Emma lives, and spotted her friends on the top of the hill. We all waved, and they spotted us and waved back! We also saw Emma’s parents’ wind turbine.
Along the way today we saw three harbour porpoises foraging and swimming! Many interesting seabirds kept us occupied along the way. Common dolphins came by for a quick hello as we headed west towards the Ross of Mull. Sadly, this group didn’t stay for long. As we headed around the northern side of the Ross of Mull and were about to head in to anchor for the night we were greeted by more common dolphins. Hannah was the first to spot them on deck as the volunteers on the mast were distracted by a skua.
We anchored for the night at Bunnessan, on the Ross of Mull. It was a beautiful spot where we had traditional haggis, neeps, and tatties made by Bruce, with whisky supplied by Iphthime. Some people went ashore and found the local pub or had a nice hill walk.
DAY 7
The day started with bonny cloud formations and pastel colours. Then the first sightings were common dolphins in stealth mode, as if the pod had split up and were not really leaping. Lots of creels occupied the volunteers on the mast…fast and furious then peace! (Creel Neil) There was a wee wobble in the transect line due to a trawler working ahead of us and behind. Common dolphins came in to bow ride, there looked like a pale-coloured juvenile being chivvied by Mum to stop interacting with the boat. Probably having too much fun, like us onboard!
The sun came out and there was a warm wind, moving us briskly along but the engine remained on. We did see 2 pieces of visible rubbish, an unfortunate first. Food kept us going along with fluid, the fruit bowl came round then biscuits and chocolate topping energy levels for those hanging on at the mast varying between 30 -35 degrees. Emma made sure we were all clipped on at all times, probably sensible.
We were then on a transect to Gunna Sound between the isles of Tiree and Coll. Fortunately for Emily on relay, the shags were few in number today as it was quite rolly. As we navigated through the Sound, there was shelter coming up the west of Coll from the easterly wind. Dolphin whistles were heard but lack of sightings. We did however have gorgeous views of the Treshnish Isles, Tiree, Coll, the Small Isles and even in the far distance the southern Outer Hebrides.
Katherine spotted common dolphins in the distance towards Eigg, and then a minke appeared just off Ardnamurchan Point. So, it was ‘with whale’ for the first time during this survey but the minke proved elusive. So, it was back on effort for the last half hour before we anchored into Sanna Bay.
Jobs to be done, along with a cuppa but it’s a quick turnaround to go ashore, a watery landing but the lure of a swim calls. Hannah stayed to carry on her work, Ronnie was on tea duty and Emma as skipper never leaves, so it was 1st mate Bruce who ended up giving us private transport on the rib. Neil for the first time sat at the front of the rib…but there was little spray, so he ducked that extra wash again. All went in swimming, some faster than others but the 3 young ones did finally get their shoulders below the water.
That evening we had our first taste of Pass The Pigs and contemplated the events of today. Emily’s achievement was calling more sightings in one day than she had all week. Hannah ‘stole’ Iphthimes sighting (common seal), so she has called none so far. Pam called the last 2 seals of the day. Tilly thinks she saw an unconfirmed breaching minke whale.
Neil spent time making up rhymes:
If it’s stinky, it’s a minke. If it’s glare it’s fair, if it’s not gre-at, it’s mod-er-ate, if it’s four it’s pooor
and fun facts: 0.1 % of Mulls resident population are on board Silurian whereas if the same % of London’s population was on board it’d be 9,548. Number of folk per km on Mull is 4 vs 5,000 in London.
DAY 8
What a final day!! Emily’s predictions of seven minke whales finally came true. Neil and Tilly started the final day on the mast and kicked off with our most exciting spot yet. The most beautiful day started with a feeding frenzy of hundreds of gannets and shearwaters, which clued us into several minke whales and common dolphins. We went ‘with whale’ to get photo ID pictures and were kindly told to ignore the dolphins! The dolphins had other ideas and put on a show for us with leaping and bow riding trying to get our attention. We ended up spotting another group of minke whales! There were estimated to be between 8 and 10 whales kicking about. There was also a mysterious blow on the horizon near Eigg, Iphthime thought it looked similar to a fin whale, but sadly as it didn’t come any closer, we couldn’t positively ID the animal. Eventually, the whales moved on and so did we. When we went back on effort Emily was in the science station and heard/saw the most amazing common dolphin vocalisations – a range of clicks, whistles, and her favourite burst pulses!!
We had planned to head for Hawes Bank and around the Cairns of Coll this morning but our amazing encounter with multiple minke whales altered plans. As we turned to head back towards the Sound of Mull, we stumbled across another lone minke whale so went with whale again! It swam alongside the boat about a couple hundred metres for a few minutes and we saw it prepare for another dive before it left us.
Continuing we had a flurry of sightings including dolphins leaping 1000m away, possible tuna/shark sightings and lots of curious grey and common seals. There was another Arctic skua spotted by Pam on the helm. Also, Ronnie had his first official sighting on the mast as he put in a shift, which made him very happy. A wee flock of storm petrels did a low fly past too. As we headed back towards Tobermory and through the Sound of Mull we were greeted with lots of lovely creels. Also, there were a few wee pods of common dolphins and harbour porpoises, all fairly close to the boat.
To finish off an amazing day of surveying, Emily, Katherine and Tilly were lucky enough to go up to the crow’s nest! The views of the Sound of Mull were beautiful, and we all really enjoyed it. Even Tilly who admitted afterwards she’s scared of heights. This afternoon we’ll give Silurian some love before heading out for a celebration meal at the local pub. We have realised that all volunteers have made a positive sighting during the trip from either the mast or on deck, each contributing towards vital data collection of marine mammals for the west coast of Scotland.
Across 9 days, the group surveyed 300 miles of Hebridean waters encountering 5 species of marine mammals across 101 sightings.
