That title sounds like it could be the beginning to some epic poem - the modern day mariner's tale. Alas, it reflects life as a marine mammal researcher in the middle of the Irish Sea! Surveys are pretty weather dependent, add even just a little wind to the equation and the sea often becomes too rough to spot cetaceans, especially smaller species such as harbour porpoise.
Last Monday, even though conditions weren't good enough for a proper survey, I took Jen and new volunteer Alex down to Port St Mary to set up the theodolite and show them how it works. We also popped down to the Sound to show Alex the survey site and managed to spot lots of gannets diving, but no sign of any cetaceans.
With Tuesday having been an office day, on Wednesday morning I took a quick stroll up Peel hill and along to
Corrin's tower, before heading back to the office to tackle the photo-ID from our last boat trip. We managed to photograph around 15 dolphins, all of which are new to Manx waters!
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| Peel from Corrin's tower |
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| Left and right sides of the same dolphin |
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| Photo-ID shot |
After playing around with a few test sightings from the theodolite I took it out again to get some more readings to check it was plotting really accurately. I had thought I was being really clever by combining the huge long equation to convert angles into lat-long in one cell in Excel, but turns out this rounds the numbers too much and makes the lat-longs pretty inaccurate. So, I split up the equation and am happy that I can plot really accurate cetacean sightings from the theodolite now... if only I could get out to survey them!
With the wind forecast to drop on Friday afternoon, we headed out on the boat about 1.30 for a survey. Unfortunately, the wind wasn't cooperative so the conditions weren't great but OK in places, Tom and Jen spotted a minke whale, and we saw a few porpoises, so not all bad.
On Saturday my parents, sister, and grandmother arrived for a holiday on the island. With the wind still preventing surveying I was able to be touristy, and show them around the beautiful sights without feeling too guilty about shirking work.
Tourist mode fully engaged, we struck out on Sunday to take the
steam train from Port Erin to Douglas, caught the
horse tram along Douglas promenade, and then the
electric railway up to Groudle Glen. From there it was a walk through the glen to another
steam train out to Sea Lion rocks, former site of a 'zoo' housing a polar bear, and some sea lions... crazy Victorians!
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| Steam trains |
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| Douglas horse tram |
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| Cafe at Sea Lion Rocks |
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| The old 'zoo'! |
Monday was windy but sunny, so we made for
Peel Castle and the
House of Manannan, before enjoying a lovely sunset in Port Erin. On Tuesday we enjoyed a stroll around
Cregneash, before taking a delicious lunch of Queenies at the
Sound Cafe. There was a brief moment at the Sound when I thought the weather might be good enough for a survey. I even managed to spot a few porpoises to point out to my sister and Dad. However, it quickly began to rain, and the fog descended, completely reducing the visibility. I had intended to teach an interested friend of Tom's how to use the theodolite, but much to my dismay, unpacked it after lunch to discover the display is not working. I fear it may have gotten a little damp, it's currently off to be examined and hopefully repaired, fingers crossed it can be fixed.
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| Port Erin sunset |
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| From Peel Castle |
On Wednesday we picnicked in the beautiful, sunny grounds of
Rushen Abbey which were a-buzz with insect activity. Many were so busy stocking up on nectar they didn't seem to mind having their photo taken. We made a stop of at the impressive
Laxey Wheel before heading home, where I wrote a short article about my research project to be featured in the PTES magazine
Wildlife World.
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| Common blue danselfly |
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| Marmalade hoverfly |
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| Honey bee |
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| Buff-tailed bumble bee |
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| Large white butterfly |
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| Common blue butterfly |
On Thursday we took a picnic up to the Point of Ayre, a beautiful pebble beach at the very North of the island. I kept my eyes peeled for cetaceans, but no luck, though there was a seal bobbing around. There was other life about though, including some mating common blue butterflies which were very skittish and tricky to photograph, but I got an OK shot in the end.
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| Ringed plover |
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| Common blues making babies! |
After checking out the
Royal Manx Agricultural Show on Friday morning, the wind decided to let up enough to let the sea flatten out and I headed down south to do a two hour survey at the Sound. The conditions were brilliant and I managed to spot two very distant minke whales as well as two groups of porpoises. One of two adults and two calves, the other two adults and one calf. Both groups appeared to be feeding and were in the vicinity of my C-POD, so I should have some excellent detections on there. It was great to be able to get out and see some cetaceans - it's been a while!
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| Calm Friday evening waters under the moon |
Now, with the remnants of Hurricane Bertha sweeping across the British Isles the weather is still not playing nice, and unfortunately doesn't look set to improve any time soon. So, looks like the office chair and I will be coming extremely well acquainted over the next few days...
