Sightings Alert! Keeping an Eye Out this Easter Weekend

Are you ready for the upcoming Easter holidays? If you’re out and about on the West Coast, remember to keep your eyes on the water and you may just see some of our resident and visiting marine mammals! Scotland is the home and highway to a quarter of the world’s whales and dolphins with regular visitors seen from land and sea all year round.

Recent records from our Community Sightings Network, Whale Track, have included the frequently seen harbour porpoise as well as sightings of minke and humpback whales, and all of these sightings have come from people like you! Could you be the next person to spot John Coe, our local celebrity killer whale? He was last seen off the north of Mull in February and a week later, over 600 km off the south west of Ireland in Dingle!

Thirty-one different reports of marine mammals have been received in the last month alone thanks to the community efforts. Your contributions are invaluable to our ongoing research of these species, so please keep them coming! The first few minke whales of the season have been spotted, so keep your eyes out for more.

If you want to get involved this Easter season, be sure to download our free app ‘Whale Track’ and record any marine life you see. It’s easy to use and can help you identify any sightings you may be unsure about with its built in species ID guide or see what has already been seen on the live sightings map.

All of your sightings will be uploaded live and added to our expanding database, making a huge impact on our research and providing evidence for on-going conservation efforts.