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An account of day 3 of the Orca Watch in Caithness (by Colin Bird – SWF Regional Coordinator)

Photos: Colin Bird

The day looked like a complete none starter with rain, howling wind and thick fog at John O’ Groats. Phil Evans and myself decided to have tea and a burger and wait to see how the weather would let up. Five minutes before the watch was to start the fog lifted. So we went to Duncansby and met Helen who had joined the watch at the start, we decided because of the wind we would be best shielded from the wind by relocating on the east side of the headland instead of the North. We were then joined by Rachel and Pete who were on last years watch and had agreed to give me a picture of the Hoxa orca sighting.

At 17.50pm I received a text message from Ivor Thomas on the John O’ Groats Ferry saying he could see orca off the Ness of Duncansby. Pete and Rachel rushed back to the North side of the point to see if they could see them, they then phoned to say they had them just below the cliffs. Phil, Helen and myself grabbed our cameras, abandoned every thing else and rushed up the hill and across to the north side where Rachel was shouting “There they are!” We all snapped away with our cameras following the cliff path round the lighthouse and ended back where we had started, Phil who has a fear of heights was so excited that he never noticed the 150 foot drop to the sea that was a meter away. Everyone was overjoyed that they had seen orcas so close. We continued watching for a further 2 hours but the wind chill was just too much and we decided to call it day and pack and see what tomorrow would bring. Interestingly, this pod is the same pod that was off John O’Groats last year and Lybster in 2010.

Three days and three sightings for the watch team with sighting by the ferry and Rachel and Pete when in Orkney. It doesn’t get much better than this!

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Colin Bird’s watchers have been hard at work since Saturday, scouring the seas for a glimpse of a dorsal fin. So far, participants have spotted two orca, a group of twenty common dolphins and two groups of harbour porpoise. There is still a week to go so we are looking forward to more updates from the Caithness coastline!

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The Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project team have carried out the first line transect surveys for the 2013 research season. Groups of harbour porpoise, grey seal and bottlenose dolphin were spotted, which will help in determining the abundance and distribution of these marine mammals, and will additionally provide further information on life history strategies of our semi-resident population of bottlenose dolphins within Cardigan Bay.

On the initial survey day in the Pen Llyn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation (SAC), the survey team came across a group of 28 bottlenose dolphins and included a number of juveniles, and calves.

The following survey took place in the southern SAC which stretches from Aberaeron to Cemaes Head along the Ceredigion coastline. This time, four sightings of grey seal, four sightings of harbour porpoise and two sightings of bottlenose dolphin were recorded. One group of bottlenose dolphin that were seen included a group of ten individuals, together with juveniles and calves. These shallow, sheltered waters of the Cardigan Bay SAC also provide ideal habitat for bottlenose dolphins to nurse their young, and sightings of newborns and calves will hopefully increase in this area in the coming months.

In addition to the dedicated line transect survey trips, three bottlenose dolphins were also sighted around the headland at Ynys Lochtyn in the Cardigan Bay SAC, in a trip that was organised for the Seawatch AGM. One of the bottlenose dolphins that were sighted during this trip was seen only few days ago on one of the line transect trips within the Pen Llyn a’r Sarnau SAC, and shows that some bottlenose dolphins are travelling large distances within Cardigan Bay in a short space of time. The boat trip was followed by an informative talk by Peter Evans, the director of Seawatch, on the effects of renewable energy on cetaceans within Northern Europe. Marine mammals are effected by the sounds that are produced as a result of marine renewable projects, such as wind farm construction. On a positive note, the talk highlighted that recent research has found that the use of bubble curtains around construction sites could reduce the impact of sound on marine mammals during the construction phase. Overall an enjoyable and productive week, with lots of sightings of marine mammals!

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The first sighting of Risso’s dolphin for 2013 was reported off Caithness this weekend. Kevin Davidson spotted them coming into Thurso Bay from Holborn head late on Sunday evening and forwarded details of the the sighting to Regional Coordinator, Colin Bird.

Colin commented: “This is the latest “first annual sighting” of Risso’s dolphins since my records began in 2005. With a bit of luck, we can expect more sightings of this species in the coming weeks. If you do encounter Risso’s dolphins or any other cetacean species, don’t forget to let me know!”

Colin is organising the Orca watch from 18th to 25th May. For more information, contact Colin via email ColinB51@aol.com

For more information on Risso’s dolphins click here.

To report you sightings, click here.

On 30th April, I attended an event held by the EYE Project (E.Y.E. stands for Eco. Young. Engaged) which links together locality schools across three towns, Shoreham, Lancing and Worthing (West Sussex). I took a display stand about the various marine related sessions I run for schools.

During the day, I ran three dolphin rescue workshops. Each workshop started with a PowerPoint introducing Sea Watch Foundation, Sussex Sea Mammals and included some pictures of local dolphin and seal sightings. I then discussed the biology/anatomy/natural history of dolphins which the children would consider when planning their dolphin rescue. We discussed strandings, (including  couple I had taken part in) and I mentioned things they needed to be aware of and what not to do (don’t tip water over the blow hole, check the breathing regularly as a means of assessing the dolphins condition, be aware the tail is the most dangerous part of the dolphin etc).

In two groups, the children then used what they had learned about dolphin biology and strandings to plan their rescue of a dolphin. What they would do, who would do what and in what order etc. The scenario they were given was a dolphin tangled in a piece of fishing net.

After both groups had conducted their rescue we de-briefed (another essential part of a rescue) to see how well they thought their rescue had gone, what didn’t go so well, what they might do differently next time.

The workshops were a great chance to raise awareness of Sea Watch Foundation, that we have sea mammals of Sussex and some of the dangers to sea mammals.