On my day off yesterday, I has planned a leisurely day of housework, gardening, dog walking and beached bird surveys. Beach bird surveys take place on the last Sunday of every month in Shetland. Organised by SOTEAG/Aberdeen University, people walk various lengths of coastline in Shetland, recording dead birds. Birds are identified (species and where possible age), checked for signs of oil (which is seldomly seen these days), and rings (there are a number of seabird ringing programmes in the North Atlantic area). In the case of fulmars which are intact we collect them for stomach content analysis, and eiders are collected for DNA sampling. Martin Heubeck works with the data gathered and is in regular communication with other scientists overseas. This adds to the picture of what is going on in the sea.
Anyhow, all plans for the day were ditched when at midday I heard there were killer whales (orca) of Sumburgh Head. A tour company had briefly spotted a group of five or so indivduals beneath the cliffs, but the elusive whales had vanished. Malcie and Martha (our North Isles wardens) happened to be at my house, so with them and my pal Harriet we trotted off hoping to see them. I contacted a couple of folk (including natural history broadcaster Simon King and his wife Marguerite), and we positioned ourselves at various points around the coast. However, an hour or so of watching from Sumburgh Head and nearby Scatness was fruitless,so we headed to our respective homes.
Half an hour later or so, I get a phone call - the whales had been spotted far offshore about two miles north of Sumburgh Head!! Harriet and I headed to my parents house, and managed to get reasonable but distant views of the whales which appeared to be "playing" next to a yacht. Yesterday, I should mention, had the calmest seas and sunniest skies I've seen in a long time, and the presence of many sailing boats made it easier to point out the group of whales to passing walkers and day-trippers. The whales seemed to lose interest in the yacht, making their way slowly north. I met up with Simon, Marguerite and camerawoman Alison in a passing place a mile north of my parents house. From here we could see the whales (again way off in the distance), breaching, tail flapping and being fairly active. With Simon's superduper megazoom camera, he could see that it looked like the whales had a porpoise or dolphin with them, either leaping or being whacked out of the sea.
The whales seemed to be making their way north again, so we contacted Tom Jamieson of Mousa Boat Trips (the passenger ferry which takes people to Mousa RSPB reserve) to see if we could get off in his boat with him for a wee while. It was a bit of a risk, because the whales could decide to do anything (head south, speed north or offshore) and our trip would be wasted time. Well, thank goodness for mobile phones. We made contact with the Scottish Killer Whale Research Team, who had launched their RIB (Ridgid Inflatable Boat). They told us that they were with a group of around FIFTEEN indivduals, just south of Mousa Sound. Seven of us boarded the Solan IV (AKA the Mousa Ferry) motored south, gleefull with nervous excitement. After ten minutes or so, someone spotted the RIB. We carried on approaching a moment longer, then Tom cut the engines. All we could hear was the lapping of the sea and the sound of Arctic terns feeding on sandeels. Mousa was gloriously bathed in sunshine, with the 2000 year old broch looked golden. Cameras were all poised. Then someone spotted a fin ahead of us on the port side, and another and another.... We could see a group of five whales, which were a distance away but still an awesome sight. Well, I couldn't believe it when the whales approached us, closer, closer, closer. They made their way right up to the boat, within five metres, surfacing, swimming on their sides under the surface. I can't communicate the atmosphere (thankfully, it's been captured on camera and will be on your television screen sometime in 2010 as a part of the BBC "Shetland Diaries with Simon King" series). It was jaw dropping stomach flipping pure brilliant.
It all is a bit of a blur after that. The whales grouped, separated, came up to the boat, moved ahead, disappeared only to reappear in a row of seven in a sort of killer whale sychronised swimming leap. They were belly up, tail flapping, spy hopping... Eyes were all fixed to the starboard side, only to hear the blows of a group coming up from the port side. We heard from the Research Team that they had a hydrophone and were recording lots of vocalisations. From the amazingly close encounters, some of the whales were recognisable (by fins and markings) from previous visits to Shetland, though five or so were new. One of the bulls, known as Bigga, has a dorsal fin of about 6foot tall. After the most amazing couple of hours at sea, it was time to collect the visitors to Mousa and deliver them back to the mainland. We were treated to superb views of porpoises on the crossing. What a contrast to the dramatic powerful predator which we had just enjoyed. Highlighted by the squeals of the children aboard, the porpoises were still a joy to watch.
We then headed down towards Sumburgh Head by car. We stopped at Grutness pier (where you catch the Good Shepherd ferry to Fair Isle), where we could see that a pod of whales were near to a small fishing boat, just beside Sumburgh Airport. A group of us ran towards the point, but lost sight of them. Initially, we assumed the whales had sped past. I glanced back to the way we had come from, only to see three massive fins. They'd headed inshore rather than out. We dashed back to the pier, to see people still looking right but the fins were to the left. "BEHIND YOU BEHIND YOU!!" - almost like a pantomime sketch. A small common seal kept close to the pier, and was left undiscovered. The sandy bay at Grutness is really shallow, and I was most surprised to see how close to the shore the killer whales ventured. They approached the pier and you could see the 'footprints' of the whales as they swam beneath the surface. That helped predict where they would come up for air. They moved on, towards Sumburgh Head. We made our way up to the reserve and could see that not only were there the group on the east side, but another to the west. Around a hundred or so people managed to get superb views of the creatures. I hope to get sent some photos of the days drama, but in the meantime, my brother has sent some photos into this website - http://www.nature-shetland.co.uk/naturelatest/latestcetaceans.htm .
If you are visiting or living in Shetland, there is no guarantee of seeing any whales, dolphins or porpoises. But there is always the chance. I am pleased to know they around, but thrilled when treated to the spectacle. Killer whales are top predators, like us, at the top of the foodchain. If we wish to continue seeing these spectacular creatures in our waters, there has to be producitve seas and no breakdown in the marine foodweb. Research is showing that the whales that frequent Shetland waters (unlike those in the north Pacific), eat both seals and fish. Sandeels are perhaps the most important foodsource in our local waters. In recent years, sandeels have not been so available to their predators, be it fish, bird or mammal. This is believed to be due to the effects of climate change. So, we must all act to help look after our seas - be it do your own bit to reduce your effect on climate change or lobby government for better protection through a sturdy Marine Bill. The RSPB website has loads of ideas and information for you to find out more.
With every experience you can learn something. The lesson I learned from yesterday is "Never stay home to do the housework."
Cheers
Helen