Bow riding bottlenose, Lunge feeding minkes, and a selkie

OUR LATEST EXPEDITION ON BOARD OUR RESERACH VESSEL, SILURIAN. WAS ACTION PACKED! NOT ONLY DID WE HAVE SOME INCREDIBLE WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS, BUT WE EVEN MANAGED TO JOIN JAMES ARMOUR FOR SOME OF HIS INCREDIBLE SELKIE RACE! OUR SCIENCE OFFICER BECKY TELLS US MORE…

We set off on our latest expedition on the 24th of July, on a beautiful sunny morning, sailing around the north coast of Mull and down to the Isle of Tiree. The conditions were spectacular, and we were accompanied by porpoise and seals along the way. Upon arrival we were greeted by a glorious sunset, and we spent the evening on deck, excited for the 11 days ahead…

The next morning, we sailed south, aiming to cover the more southern parts of our survey area, which had yet to be explored this year. We made our way to the northern part of Islay and had another beautiful sunset, this time in the company of some very curious grey seals. With the conditions remaining calm for the next day, we decided to make our away around the southern tip of Islay, which due to strong tides and tidal overfalls can be a tricky area to cover. We were lucky though and although we had to contend with a consistent fog bank, the seas remained calm. That evening as the we put down the anchor and began to make the customary end of day cup of tea, I noticed some splashing at the entrance of our anchorage. Bottlenose dolphins had joined us in the bay. We jumped into action, getting the tender ready and grabbing cameras, before motoring over to get some photographs. Bottlenose dolphins can be identified by their individual dorsal fins, and I quickly recognised one of the dolphins as a member of the Ileach or Inner Hebridean pod. They seemed to be just as curious as we were of them, coming over to bow ride, which when you are in a tender, is rather intimidating. Scottish bottlenose dolphins are some of the largest in the world and it certainly seemed that way as the leapt and swam around us.

With stronger westerly winds predicted, we spent the next day surveying the sound of Jura, spotting many porpoises along the way as well as a minke whale which appeared to be following us north. The next few days were spent heading back north past the Cairns of Coll and up to the Isle of Canna. We then set our sights on surveying the sea of the Hebrides, again an area which we hadn’t covered much this year. We sailed south to the Isle of Barra, encountering common dolphins along the way. As we sailed south, we realised that we would be able to join James Armour for one of the swimming legs on his Selkie Race. James became the first person the swim, cycle and run the length of the Outer Hebrides IN ONE GO! In doing so he also raised an incredible amount for the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. We met James as he began the swim across the sound of Barra. It was really special to be able to be part of his journey and we even managed to meet him at the end of the swim on Eriskay to thank him in person for his unbelievable effort. Read more about James’ race here. There is still time to donate if you can!

After the excitement of the Selkie, we surveyed around Barra Head, then crossed back over the sea of the Hebrides, before making our way along the south coast of the Isle of Mull. We had some incredible minke whale action just before reaching our anchorage on our penultimate day of the expedition. As we passed Colonsay, Bruce our first mate, spotted a whale surfacing amongst some feeding seabirds. We slowed down so that we could get some photo identification images of the whale. The minke had disappeared and we waited in anticipation for it to reappear. Suddenly we saw a huge splash in the distance as the minke lunged out of the water. We could even see the whales throat groves as its mouth expanded, capturing the sand eels beneath the surface. A second whale joined in on the action and we floated there for 20 minutes, watching and photographing the whales surfacing around us. On the final day we made our way up the sound of Mull, alongside around 40 boats taking part in the west highland sailing week.

In total we covered 572 nautical miles (1059 km), collecting over 82 hours of acoustic recordings. We recorded four species of cetaceans, including harbour porpoise, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins and minke whales, as well as grey and common seals.

Tracklines showing where Silurian travelled on our latest survey

WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COLLECT ANY OF THIS DATA IF IT WASN’T FOR THE INCREDIBLE SUPPORT WE RECEIVED VIA THE BIG GIVE GREEN MATCH FUND CAMPAIGN. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO DONATED!

THANKS ALSO TO NATURESCOT WHO HELP FUND THE DATA COLLECTION PROGRAM ABOARD SILURIAN.

FEELING INSPIRED TO GET INVOLVED WITH OUR MARINE CONSERVATION EFFORTS? THE 2022ARE NOW LIVE! JOIN US ON BOARD FOR YOUR CHANCE TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR RESEARCH AND ENCOUNTER SOME OF THE AMAZING WILDLIFE WE HAVE IN OUR WATERS!