During the survey we recorded four different species of marine mammals, including some really special glimpses of harbour porpoises within meters of Silurian. We also had an unexpected encounter with a couple of common dolphins, who came over to bow ride as we surveyed up towards Fort William.
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A year on from its launch, Whale Track, HWDT’s community sightings app and website, is going from strength to strength. With 651 users, who have recorded over 3,550 sightings and 24,055 animals, Whale Track is creating a growing community of citizen scientists monitoring whales and dolphins on the west coast of Scotland.
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Read our sightings report from our Community Sightings Network here, including sightings reported through our Whale Track app launched in August.
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Our last survey of the 2017 field season was scheduled to coincide with the massive NATO Joint Warrior military exercise, which occurs off the west coast of Scotland.
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Read about our penultimate survey, HWDT 12. Find out where the team surveyed and what was spotted during the monitoring expedition.
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During the survey we covered 265 nautical miles, spending 46 hours on effort looking for cetaceans, with a total of 1.5 hours logged “with whales” (or for this trip with dolphins!). Read more about our first 'Ullapool Survey' of 2017.
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During HWDT 10, we recorded 100 encounters throughout the survey including: 8 basking sharks, 9 common dolphins, 11 common seals, 9 grey seals, 30 harbour porpoises, 3 minke whales, 1 otter, 2 white-beaked dolphins, 1 unidentified whale, 6 unidentified dolphins and 8 unknown species.
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We surveyed the Sea of Hebrides; travelling to the Small Isles, then from Skye to Barra, and onwards to Coll. We had 29 encounters with six different species of marine mammals and sharks, totalling 63 animals.
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Travelling around the Argyll Islands and all the way up Loch Linnhe to Fort William, we recorded 59 harbour porpoises, 1 common dolphin, 14 common seals, three grey seals, as well as hundreds of birds and lots of boats.
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A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for the harbour porpoise has been designated in the Hebrides - giving increased protection to the UKs smallest cetacean. The Inner Hebrides and Minches SAC is located in the heart of HWDTs study area and covers an area more than 13,800km².
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