On Thursday I got the second C-POD back which had been returned from repairs, good as new, which is great and means I can get on with sorting out the ropes etc. for this. Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch have boards at the Sound Cafe and Niarbyl Cafe, where they post information about the species which can be seen, and any recent public sightings which have been made. So Thursday afternoon we went out to update these with the latest information of the great number of recent sightings.
Last Saturday Rosie and I had a day off and went to Cornaa plunge pool in Ballaglass glen, where we enjoyed a refreshing leap into the cold waters, before drying off in the lovely sunshine.
 |
| Rosie |
 |
| Me |
Recently we have been trying to update or create new display materials for public stalls and, in doing so, have had problems trying to print the MWDW logo out at large sizes. So, on Monday, as the weather wasn't quite good enough for surveying, I downloaded a piece of software called Inkscape, which I have never used before, and re-created the logo in a different format so it is suitable for printing on banners.
On Tuesday the weather was looking more promising so Jen and I went to Niarbyl to do a survey, but after about two hours, the cloud and rain descended, reducing our visibility and forcing us to stop early having seen nothing.
Thursday morning we took Rosie down to Castletown to witness some of the Southern 100 races, as she will not be here for the Manx Grand Prix, and wanted to see a little of what the Isle of Man is most famous for - the motorbikes! Afterwards, we did a short watch at the Sound, where we saw one porpoise, before moving to survey for two hours at Niarbyl, again seeing one porpoise.
On Friday morning Rosie and I had an early start to catch the 7am Steam Packet ferry Manannan to Belfast and back to conduct a survey for cetaceans. The conditions were great, with good visibility and a very flat sea. We even had the added bonus that one of the engines was not operating at full power, so instead of speeding along at around 40kts, we enjoyed a more leisurely 23kts, allowing us a little more time to make sightings. The outbound trip was fantastic. The boat was full of people in good spirits, returning home after enjoying the Southern 100, and many passengers came out on deck to ask us about our work, the animals they could see, and admire our new display boards. Some were even lucky enough to be around when we made a sighting so we could point the animals out to them, which is always a pleasure. Rosie spotted a Risso's dolphin just a few minutes after pulling out of Douglas harbour, followed not long after by a common dolphin which many passengers managed to see as it made a few leaps along the side of the boat. I saw neither of these unfortunately as I was surveying on the opposite side of the vessel. I did, however, see two minke whales, an adult and a juvenile, feeding not far from the Calf of Man, followed by a total of 14 sightings of harbour porpoises as we moved out of Manx waters and closer to Belfast. The return journey to Douglas was not as action packed cetacean wise, and we had only three porpoise sightings despite the weather being just as good. We still had a lot of interest from the passengers on board though, and were able to talk to them about the fantastic trip over. With the slower travel speed the journey times were longer, and we were pretty tired by the time we finally reached Douglas again, but it was a great trip.
 |
| Rosie surveys on the way to Belfast |
On Saturday afternoon our research boat, Girl Pat, was finally returned to the water after many weeks out for repairs, so hopefully we will be out on her soon. Jen, Rosie, and I headed up north to Ramsey on Sunday to host a stall at the Ramsey Rotary Club Sunday Funday, our first in the north of the island. We unveiled one of our new banners, and the swanky new gazebo to keep the wind off! It was a lovely sunny day, at a beautiful location in Mooragh Park, and we enjoyed talking to some interested members of the public about our work.
 |
| New banner, designed by me |
 |
| The new gazebo |
In between all of this I have been liaising with various people in different departments of the Manx government to confirm where I will be deploying the C-PODs so that everyone is kept happy and 'in-the-loop'. I am close to having everything sorted now, and am really keen to deploy the C-PODs as soon as possible. So, hopefully the next post will be about my project really getting going - fingers crossed!
No comments:
Post a Comment