A 'Whaley' Busy Winter: Whale Track Summary
©Ryan MacRae
As everyone looks forward to the season ahead, we take a look back at what was a ‘whaley’ busy winter.
Each winter, we encourage everyone to embrace the crispness of the season and spend some time outside wildlife watching and gathering data. Winter watching and recording is shedding light on the presence and absence of species in our seas year-round.
Between the start of December and the end of February, 106 members of the Whale Track community have logged:
51 excursions
50 land-based surveys
243 casual reports
41 photographs
Resulting in almost 300 sightings, of 2,202 animals from 11 different species . We want to thank the hardy and dedicated people who spent time watching from land and sea this winter.
Our first podium of 2025 sees the same species as last winter, however in a slightly different order. This winter, common dolphins maintain the top spot - with 79 sightings of almost 2,000 animals. Bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoise took joint second - with 59 sightings of 387 bottlenose dolphins and 59 sightings reported of 294 harbour porpoises. Humpback whales were the third most commonly reported species, with 28 sightings of 40 animals.
*This data has not been analysed or corrected for effort.
BUSY SKYE SEAS
Sightings of humpback whales continued into winter. A total of 28 reports of 40 animals, with all but 3 of these coming in from around Skye and Mallaig.
On 11 December, Whale Tracker, Polarissy295, spotted two humpbacks surfacing and diving, while out on a fishing boat. Sightings continued leading up to Christmas and into the new year. At the end of January, Anthony Rigell sent in these absolutely stunning aerial images of what he counted to be 4, maybe even 5, humpback whales just north of Portree.
©Anthony Rigell
In addition to humpback sightings, there were reports of a sperm whale in the area. The first report came in from Ellie in mid-January, before Jan Storie reported what she suspected was a sperm whale two weeks later.
“I realised that the animal was spy hopping and it bobbed up and down before surfacing and showing the length of the back with dorsal hump clearly visible. It logged for about 15 -20 mins with regular low level offset blows showing distinct shape…”
©Ellie
Unfortunately, alongside the excitement of seeing so many whale sightings, the Skye community have also had the sad experience of dealing with several entanglement cases. Whale Track reporter and drone operator, Anthony Rigell, recounts his experience of the humpback whale entanglements in our most recent Whale Track Stories blog.
We want to thank everyone that was involved in helping with these entanglement cases and to encourage everyone to continue reporting any cases of entanglement to help us better understand the scale and impact of marine animal entanglements in our waters.
Launched in 2018, the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA) is a partnership between six organisations dedicated to promoting and protecting Scotland’s wildlife, heritage and sustainable marine industries. SEA work closely with the Scottish inshore fishing industry to provide a co-ordinated, comprehensive monitoring and engagement programme to better understand the scale and impact of marine animal entanglements in our waters, and work towards developing strategies to reduce this threat.
Read more about each of these entanglements and the work taking place by SEA here.
KILLER SIGHTINGS
This winter we have received over 20 reports of killer whales across Scotland. Up in Shetland, on 04 February, Sam watched two male killer whales travelling just off Sumburgh. The individuals were identified as #140 and #141 from the Scottish Killer Whale Catalogue.
Sticking with Shetland, on 10 February, Tanya Gray watched the 27s pod, capturing this amazing shot of the pod feeding on porpoise!
©Sam
©Tanya Gray
Meanwhile, in the Pentland Firth, on the 14 December, Kasmunro had an incredible sighting of 10 killer whales, capturing these stunning aerial shots, which show the pod with a wee calf.
©Kasmunro
VALENTINE DAY FINS
This Valentines Day, John Coe and Aquarius were spotted for the first time this year, by none other than Ryan MacRae from North Coast Sea Tours who also provided one of the first sightings of the boys last year! Seen in the Sound of Sleat on February 14, Ryan captured these beautiful images of the pair.
©Ryan MacRae
As we enjoy the signs of spring beginning to appear and the daylight hours increasing, we are excited to see what you spot over the coming months. As the seas become busier with wildlife and people, we want to 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.
