Dips, dolphins and lots of creels on our first teen trip of 2023
every year we run two dedicated expeditions for young marine conservationists aged 16 and 17 on board our research vessel, Silurian. Our first teen trip of the year saw 6 keen young adults gain experience and useful skills for becoming marine scientists. Below they recount their time surveying Hebridean Seas.
DAY 1: HELEN & AMOS
The first day onboard Silurian started with learning the correct way to call out a sighting, how to correctly estimate the distance of an object, and how to utilise the science station - lessons that we put into practice almost immediately with a large influx of creel pot recordings on our way out of Tobermory.
The day started off without any sightings of any marine life, none-the-less, moral remained high (as did the swell) within the team and crew, and we were soon rewarded for our patience with the first of many dolphin sightings. Our first sighting was a group of 5 common dolphins, who’s breaching and bow-riding behaviour astounded and amazed the team. We then had the delight of spotting 2 more common dolphins, followed by a couple of harbour porpoise sightings.
The weather had improved dramatically by this point, and the sunshine reduced one of the team members into a deep slumber. But, our day was not yet over…with our anchorage in sight, we met a pod of common dolphins, who’s numbers continued to swell to almost 30 individuals in total over the 20-minute encounter.
Still feeling euphoric from the sighting, our favourite crew member ‘Bob the Bucket’ took a stumble and fell overboard in luckily calm waters, allowing the team and crew to practice a ‘Man Overboard’ situation. Luckily for Bob, we were at the anchorage by that point.
We concluded day 1 with a trip to shore and a swim for those who were brave enough to enter the chilly Scottish waters!
DAY 2: BEN AND ROSIE
Following our training on ‘Birds and Boats’ the previous night, we began to collect data on these as well. Despite the rainy conditions, spirits were high and we still saw many species including guillemots, gannets and great skuas. We were also very excited to see a group of over 300 shearwaters. We saw a variety of boats today including sailing yachts, creelers and well boats.
Early in the day, we spotted our first minke whales - with 2 sightings within 30 mins of each other. We didn’t get any photos as they disappeared soon after their small dorsal fins were spotted. The hydrophone picked up some dolphin clicks and whistles throughout the morning, so we were very excited to finally see them in 3 groups of roughly 7, some of which even began breaching and bow-riding alongside us. A group of around 5 porpoises swam past which was another great addition to the day! We were briefly joined by some bottling common and grey seals at different points.
As we approached the anchorage, we also noticed a sea eagle in flight above the bay which was easily the most impressive bird sighting of the day! It was a long day with lots of rain and wind, so we sat inside and played games after our delicious dinner. We can’t wait for what the next day will bring!
DAY 3 (TOM AND ESTHER)
We started by venturing out into the Sea of the Hebrides. Gentle winds and light rain carried us along, bringing calm waves. This enabled us to record 9 sightings of 10 individual minke whales (one sighting featured 2 individuals). At one of these sightings a raft of hundreds of razorbills and manxies surrounded the whale. Most of the sightings were brief with no associations but were our best minke sightings yet!
We were also treated to another pod of bow riding common dolphins today, which was somewhat spirit-lifting. Day 3 also saw the most puffins and seals so far. Altogether, it was an incredibly lucrative day for data, with 21 sightings recorded. We wait in anticipation for tomorrow.
In the evening, we went ashore where some of the teens went for a rather chilly swim, while others explored the area. Although a beautiful beach on Canna, we decided to cut our visit short, as we began being attacked by an onslaught of midges, calling in to our trusty first mate for a rescue.
DAY 4: HELEN AND AMOS
Following the rocky night’s sleep, the day was bleak. Then the keen-eyed science officer spotted a pod of dolphins around 2 km into the distance. The dolphins ignored 3 other yachts and turned towards Silurian, rushing our way and beginning to bow ride. We discovered that they numbered in the 50s, and the pod stayed with Silurian for quite some time, allowing all the team to watch them leap, breach and play all around us! The pod contained several juvenile dolphins, an exciting sight for all onboard!
This was the only sighting for quite some time, and as the team were starting to feel somewhat disheartened, they became baffled by what they thought was an eternally resting gannet who was rudely awoken by the dorsal fin of a minke whale only meters away. We were all excited by the prospect of being ‘with whale’ but the minke had other plans and vanished, never to be seen again leaving us ‘without whale’.
We were further blessed by a porpoise encounter totalling 5 individuals - more than we had seen all week! Coming into Loch Sunart our data recorder fell into despair after having to record 35 creels in the space of 30 minutes in addition to recording the environment, listening survey and several sightings. An epic effort!
After anchoring in Glen More, we took a trip to shore, walking to the distillery and museum, unfortunately arriving 13 minutes too late to enter, so returned to the pontoon to swim in the ‘refreshing’ waters. After some haggis with mixed reviews, the science officer shared more information as to how the data collected onboard Silurian is used.
DAY 4: SADIE (SCIENCE OFFICER)
The final day of the survey, saw the teens sailing up the picturesque Loch Sunart, with stunning scenery and calmer waters, it wasn’t long before the first sighting was called. Expecting porpoise sightings, the Science Officer was surprised when ‘common dolphins!’ was shouted out by those at the mast. Sure enough, there was what looked like a mother/calf common dolphin pair seen very close to the boat. As we continued up the loch, the team were treated to some lovely harbour porpoise sightings, with what appeared to be some young ones within the pods.
As we approached Tobermory for our last leg of the trip, the team also enjoyed watching the many sailing yachts that were taking part in West Highland Yachting Week.
Overall the dedicated teens travelled over 400km, recording 5 species and over 28 hours of acoustic data recordings. The crew would like to thank the dedicated teens, Tom, Helen, Ben, Amos, and Esther and Rosie who jumped into every aspect of the trip with enthusiasm
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the teen researchers on this survey, we travelled over 400km, recording 5 species and over 28 hours of acoustic data recordings.
The survey track lines of the area covered
If you are 16 or 17 years old and are feeling inspired to spend seven days at sea, working alongside scientists as marine mammal field biologists, why not join our Teen Research Expedition next year?
THANKS ALSO TO NATURESCOT FOR SUPPORTING THE DATA COLLECTION ON BOARD SILURIAN.