From scallops to cetaceans

So, another week has flown by on the island, with quite a lot going on.

Friday was a fairly quiet day doing some work in the office and getting prepared for the weekend. Saturday was Queenie festival day in Port St Mary. The Queenie festival is held in celebration of all things marine, and named for the Queen scallop, which is an important fishery for the Isle of Man. We set up a stall and spent the day talking to people about the work of Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch and the cetacean species that can be seen around the island, as well as offering ID guides, and the chance for kids to win a cuddly dolphin toy! On Saturday evening Jen, Rosie, and I were on board Steam Packet's Ben My Chree (pronounced ben mu kree) for the annual round the island cruise. We were conducting a survey for cetaceans, but also on hand to talk to people about our work, and point out anything we might see. It was a lovely evening, and great to see all the way around the island. We saw a minke whale, and another possible minke was glimpsed, and Jen saw a bottlenose dolphin leaping. We also repeatedly saw the blow of a whale, but were unable to identify it as it was lost in the glare of the evening sun and the choppy water around the south of the island. It is unusual to see the blow from a minke whale, so it was likely to have been something bigger. With so many people enjoying the view out on deck we were able to help some of them spot the animals, too.

Drinking dragon

Enjoying the scenery

Red sky at night...

Evening light

Sunday we were back at the Queenie festival again enjoying great weather. Shortly after opening, as the crowds were starting to build, I spotted a minke whale from our stall on the breakwater and was able to point it out to lots of people. It was great to be able to actually show people that cetaceans can be seen very close to shore, instead of just telling them about it, and brought lots of attention to our stall.

Queenie stall

On Monday morning there was a report of a basking shark seen from Peel hill, so Rosie and I went up to look but didn't manage to see it, unfortunately. The visibility was amazing though and we were treated to incredible clear views across the Irish Sea to the Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland, and I could even make out the lighthouse on the tip of the Mull of Galloway, some 46km away in Scotland. After being a little disappointed to miss one of the few basking sharks reported this year, we had a much better afternoon of watching in the south. Tom and I at the Sound, and Jen and Rosie at Port St Mary. The conditions were fantastic, with really flat water and great visibility. There was loads of activity with birds feeding offshore, lots of harbour porpoises, and a lot of minke whales. As the visibility was so good we were able to see them a long way off, but keeping track of how many there were was pretty tricky, somewhere between 7 and 10! Whilst we were trying to keep track of which whale was which we had call from Jen and Rosie saying they had seen Risso's dolphins at Port St Mary and they were heading south. So we kept a good look out and not long later I spotted some distant activity as a group of at least nine Risso's came in to view. My first of 2014! So, a pretty great survey for Tom and I at the Sound, but Rosie and Jen also saw common dolphins, taking their species total to four in one land survey, which is a first for Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch!

Calm water at the Sound

Tuesday morning was boringly necessary chores like laundry, then Jen and I spent an hour and a half watching from Marine Drive in Douglas and spotted one porpoise. We then moved down south to Port St Mary where the conditions were a little better, for a three hour watch. Though it somehow didn't feel as active as the previous day, we had 25 sightings of minke whales and harbour porpoises!

Port St Mary

Unfortunately the wind has picked up now and the conditions probably won't be good enough for surveying for a few days. I'm working on sorting out exact location for deploying the C-PODs soon, and getting the repaired C-POD back and ready to go as well. There's also a lot of data to enter from our busy land watches, so plenty to keep busy with.