Unfortunately due to more unsuitable weather we were only
able to complete two trips this week. The last few weeks have been in stark
contrast to earlier in the summer when we were out nearly every day. The two
days we made it out were the 12th and the 16th unfortunately
we had no sightings on the 16th. Things had gone better on the 12th
with six different sightings comprised of two harbour porpoise sightings and
four common dolphin sightings. The two harbour porpoise sightings occurred early
in the day the fist was of two animals close to the shore with another
individual observed later on again quite close to the coast. The first group of
common dolphins we encountered were quite close to the second harbour porpoise,
the group contained 10 animals that were travelling at a slow swim and didn’t seem
to show much interest in the boat as they didn’t approach it at all. The second
group was slightly larger at 12 individuals these were more interested in us
and approached the boat and were bowriding for a few minutes before we had to
leave them behind. The next group of common dolphins we encountered we only saw
surface twice before they disappeared again. Finally the last group had eight
to ten dolphins and displayed little to no interest in the boat swimming past
us at a fast swim. It’s interesting to see the different behaviour displayed by
these groups as it keeps us on our toes and means each encounter is unique and
different.
Wednesday 21 August 2013
Sunday 11 August 2013
Week 9 August 5th-11th
Unfortunately some prior commitments meant I missed a couple
of days this week that combined with some very changeable weather meant we only
got out twice this week. On Friday the 9th
we had two very different encounters with two separate groups of common
dolphins. The first group we spotted were very close to us and were swimming
along slowly were completely indifferent to the boat merely swimming around it
and not interacting with it at all. The second group we spotted from a few
hundred meters off they were coming clear out of the water and making directly
for the boat. This group stayed around the boat for a while and were bow riding
alongside us it was a complete contradiction to the group we had seen earlier.
The variability you encounter in each group is one of the things that makes
working with animals quite interesting and ensures you ant rest on your
expectations of what the animals should do.
Common dolphin (c) Paddy O'Dwyer - IWDG
We were back out the following day and came across some
harbour porpoises and common dolphins. Our first sighting was of some harbour porpoises
that were swimming slowly across the bow of the ship they surfaced multiple
times giving all on board a great opportunity to see this often elusive
species. Later in the day we came across a group of 20 common dolphins these
were in a similar location to the first group we saw the day before and again didn’t
show much interest in the boat. Aside from a few who approached and bow rode briefly
they were gone soon after they appeared.
Common dolphin (c) Paddy O'Dwyer - IWDG
Hopefully the weather improves for the rest of the month as
Nick Masset is still reporting plenty of Humpback blows in the area. Nick has
reported seeing 4 separate animals on one occasion. Nick conducts many of his
watches from Slea head and from Clogher head and while he uses a high power
scope the blows can often be seen through a reasonable pair of binoculars. As
always if you see any cetaceans around the coat of Ireland please report to the
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group Sightings network it’s a two minute process and
helps us to track animal movement around Ireland and gives us more insight in
area use and animal behavior:
More info on Marine Tours :
Week 8 July 29th - August 4th
Unfortunately our fantastic trip last Sunday was not to be
repeated this week as the weather changed for the worst. As a result we only
made it out on three days this week. Tuesday the 30th was the first day
we made it out since our humpback encounter unfortunately some high swell on
the north side of the islands meant we couldn’t go back to the site where we
had seen the humpback, instead we remained in the shelter of the bay. Although
it seemed last week that every cetacean in the south west was west of the
island it seems there were still some in the bay. We saw a minke whale early in
the day and this was followed by two harbour porpoise sightings. The fist
harbour porpoise sighting was of three animals and this was followed later in
the day by two animals.
Minke whale (c) Paddy O' Dwyer - IWDG
Although we were out on the morning of the 3rd
conditions were very poor and we had no sightings the afternoon trip was
cancelled due to the bad conditions.
Things had improved the follow day and we back out in the
bay. We came across a single group of about 30 common dolphins who appeared to
be acting quite strangely. They were skimming along the surface at quite a pace
and didn’t seem to be too concerned by the boat, some approached to bow ride
briefly with most content to just swim along parallel to the boat. The group
was a good mix of adults, juveniles and a few calves this type of group appears
to be very common in the bay with groups encountered west of the islands
seeming to be composed of mostly adults.
Common Dolphin (c) Paddy O' Dwyer - IWDG
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)