Whale Whispering

Just finished the penultimate day of our UK mammal tour. We went whale whispering to the East of the Isle of Staffa. Managed to call up three separate Minkes feeding in what was obviously a food rich area.

Mammal Tour 2019

The 2019 Mammal Tour is now open for bookings – full details are available to download here

Take a look at just a few of the mammals we encountered this year … and it’s not just about mammals either … some amazing birds to be seen too.

The Scottish Badger is a smaller race than the English version.

We saw two pods of Bottlenose Dolphins on the east coast.

We saw around 150 Common Dolphin – always the most entertaining of mammals and everyone’s favourite – this was taken from the boat before the animal surfaced..

Porpoise were in good numbers around Ardnamurchan. I stopped counting when I got to more than a hundred.

One of seven Minke Whales we came accross

We watched this Osprey displaying with a fish. One of nine birds we saw during the week

The most enigmatic mammal of the Highlands this Pine Marten really entertained us

A surprise interloper at a bait ball we came across was this Pomarine Skua sporting full ‘spoons’ – always good to see.

Prolific in the Highlands we saw some good herds of Red Deer

Never as easy to find during late May as they are earlier in the year we eventually saw a few Red Squirrels

Several Storm Petrels were seen during our boat trip to the Cairnes of Col

One surprise mammal was this male Walrus. Something we REALLY didn’t expect to see.

We saw several White tailed Eagles while searching for the 22 mammals we eventually saw

Checking us out

Think ‘intelligent dog’ when considering cetaceans.

During the UK mammal tour this week we had a rather curious Minke Whale that came to check out our boat. Circling us twice giving superb views down to a few metres – he then continued his feeding. In calm glassy conditions the whole whale was visible under the water. It was even possible to see the pectoral white bands as the animal descended back into the deep.

Full details of next years mammal tour will be available in a few days time.

 

Did we see any Common Dolphins on the mammal tour?

You bet your life we did!

The Mammal Tour keeps on giving

When you’ve seen one of the rarest mammals on the British list it gets difficult to better. Today however … we came close.

Having watched the sea for a while to the west of John O’Groats we decided to make our way further east. I’m always a bit wary of having one eye off the road but as we were driving a splash in the bright blue sea caught my attention. As we pulled up and I took the scopes from the boot of the car I saw the splash for sure once more. As I focused in on the animals  it was overwhelmingly obvious what they were. Risso’s Dolphins. The white scarred bodies, the shape of the head and dorsal fin were very distinctive. Five of them. One possibly a young animal.

Mammals

22 Mammals recorded on the recent mammal tour around the UK as well as over 100 bird species. Next May’s tour is now available for booking.

Badger – Scottish badgers are so much smaller than their English counterparts

Red Deer – Taking a cool dip on one of the very warm days we experienced

One of the Chillingham Wild Cattle – You wouldn’t want to get in the way of this big boy!

Wood Mouse – from the large to the small … we saw lots

Wild cattle

On our mammal tour of the UK next May we call in to see the only heard of wild cattle in the country. Magnificent beasts these. Not wide cattle bred for meat or dairy they are completely free from drugs or veterinary intervention. They are lean and sinewy; very much a completely wild beast of the hills and forests; dangerous too!