Surprise Sightings this Spring: Whale Track Summary
©Noel Hawkins
Although the weather may not have been indicative of it, spring arrived and with it an influx of migratory species into our seas. As we all started spending more time watching the sea, some of us were treated to some surprise sightings.
Looking back at last year’s spring sighting summary, which saw an incredible increase in the numbers of reports sent in compared to previous years, we are pleased to see this momentum continuing this year.
With a total of 369 reporters, you have completed 4x more land-based watches (120), almost double the number of excursions (230), submitted 1664 casual reports, collating 132 photographs from a total of 2068 sighting reports, totalling 8066 sightings of 15 different species. An impressive effort to start the 2024 season!
We’d like to give a wee shout out to some of our dedicated boat operators who have worked hard to record excursions during their trips to help contribute to our vital effort-based dataset.
Hebridean Whale Cruises
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Noel Shearwater Cruises
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Hebridean Adventures
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Hebrides Cruises
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Stravaigin Sailing
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Wreckspeditions
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COAST
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Immerse Hebrides
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Islay Sea Adventures
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Redmoon Cruises
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Turus Mara
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Firth of Clyde Boat Tours
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Fyne Sea Tours
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Mull Charters
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Argyll Cruising
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Hebridean Whale Cruises 〰️ Noel Shearwater Cruises 〰️ Hebridean Adventures 〰️ Hebrides Cruises 〰️ Stravaigin Sailing 〰️ Wreckspeditions 〰️ COAST 〰️ Immerse Hebrides 〰️ Islay Sea Adventures 〰️ Redmoon Cruises 〰️ Turus Mara 〰️ Firth of Clyde Boat Tours 〰️ Fyne Sea Tours 〰️ Mull Charters 〰️ Argyll Cruising 〰️
*Apologies if we have missed any operators. Please ensure your business name is in your Whale Track username.
Now let’s take a look at how our podium is looking for this spring. There has been a slight change on the podium since the winter sightings summary with common dolphins dropping from second position to fourth (240 sightings of 2163 animals), minke whales made their way into third place (363 sightings of 510 animals), while the bottlenose dolphins move up a place to second (377 sightings of 2100 animals), making our podium the same as last spring, with harbour porpoises keeping their top spot as our most sighted animal (879 sightings of 2381 animals).
*This data has not been analysed or corrected for effort.
BOW RIDING BOTTLENOSE
Noel, who works on Shearwater in Ullapool, had a busy day for bottlenose after coming across a pod of 6 large dolphins between Horse Island and Badentarbet on 20 April, before being treated to a second sighting as they headed back towards Ullapool. Alerted by a local fisherman that dolphins were in the area, on arrival Noel spotted 12 bottlenose dolphins, smaller in size to the previous pod of 6, with some younger individuals, which started associating with the boat and bow riding. With a few of the individuals having distinctive markings, Noel captured some images for use in Photo ID before leaving the dolphins and heading in.
With this being only the 3rd time Noel has seen bottlenose in that area so close to Ullapool, we’re excited to inspect the photographs provided by Noel to see if they match any in our bottlenose dolphin catalogue or individuals Noel has previously seen in the area.
©Noel Hawkins
A KILLER OF A SIGHTING
Meanwhile, across the Minch near Tiumpan Head on Lewis, Immerse Hebrides had an incredible encounter with a pod of up to 6 killer whales, including a bull, which they identify as bull 34, 3 females and possibly 2 juveniles from the 27s pod.
“Just the best day ever! ”
©Immerse Hebrides
A FRENZY AT FRASERBURGH
April looked to be a particularly busy period for sightings in Fraserburgh, as Liam Pritchard summaries in his report of a possible sei whale.
“The 26th and 27th of April seemed to be the culmination of some exceptional whale activity around the Fraserburgh area, with at the very least 8 whales present.”
Over the period of two days at Fraserburgh, Liam recorded: killer whales, minke whales, Risso’s dolphins and suspected sei whales. While the following day, saw a pod of bottlenose dolphins. What a fantastic time to be watching!
©Liam Pritchard
Continuing to look at sightings from Fraserburgh, during a watch from land off Fraserburgh in May, Steve Truluck came across an unusual looking whale. An experienced whale watcher, Steve was almost certain the whale was not the usually seen minke whale, with the head of the animal coming out at an angle, grey in colour, with a broad-based dorsal fin and a different surfacing pattern to that of a minke whale, he suspected some species of beaked whale, possibly Sowerby’s.
Sowerby’s beaked whales are deep diving whales, which make regular dives lasting up to 20 minutes often reaching depths of 1,500 meters as they hunt for squid, molluscs and deep-sea fish. The whale observed was drifting along the tide line from the southern trench, which is 200m deep, and was last seen heading back in that direction.
©Steve Truluck At Sea
Although photographs were inconclusive to positively identify the species of the whale, a couple days later, BDMLR medics were called to a Sowerby’s beaked whale which had stranded at Fort William in Inverness. Unfortunately, this whale was in poor health and had to be euthanized on welfare grounds. So it is possible that the whale Steve observed was a Sowerby’s.
WELCOME BACK KNOBBLE
As seems to be tradition now, I am once again including a report which is outwith the range of this sightings summary. But when it involves reports of one of our favourite minke whales, who can blame me?
We have been monitoring Knobble the minke whale since they were first recorded in 2002. Over this 22 year period, this whale has been spotted over 60 times, usually in July and August in the waters around Mull. Despite Knobble being such a well-known whale, there is still so much we don’t now - like whether it’s a male or female or where Knobble goes during the winter. Despite having a distinct dorsal fin, we’ve not matched Knobble to any other catalogue in other countries.
We are always excited when the first report of this much-loved whale comes in and this year, Andy, while out with Sealife Mull, spotted Knobble off the east side of the Isle of Coll on 12 June.
You can find out more about Knobble and the other minke whales recorded on the west coast of Scotland in our Minke Whale Catalogue.
As we continue into our busiest season, both for people and wildlife, we wanted to once again give a gentle reminder to everyone, on or in, our wonderful seas this year, to be mindful of who you are sharing the space with. Please follow the Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code, to minimise disturbance to wildlife.
