This week there is a National Whale and Dolphin Watch led by the charity Seawatch Foundation. They aim to track the distribution of whales, dolphins and porpoises around the UK. Since last Saturday, volunteers have been seawatching around our coastline in search of cetaceans to add important data to this study which has been running for 13 years.
On the Mull of Galloway, staff regularly seawatch in search of moving gannets, manx shearwaters and skuas. We often spot porpoise which spend the summer around the peninsula and we have recently had a report of a minke whale just off the reserve. On Tuesday morning, diving gannets and feeding kittiwakes drew attention to a large shoal of fish and within minutes 5 porpoise appeared. They were seen feeding off the Foghorn for 15 minutes before disappearing into the open water.
On Wednesday the RSPB on the Mull of Galloway took part in the National Whale and Dolphin Watch from 11am-1pm. Many of our visitors joined us in our search and after only 20 minutes we spotted a fin- it was a porpoise! Over the next ten minutes it was joined by a second animal and eventually we were watching 4 porpoise swimming past the lighthouse. The sea was calm and the sun was shining- another amazing day at Scotland’s Southernmost point!
Seawatching off the RSPB Mull of Galloway reserve (photo by Laura Shearer)
We have seen porpoise regularly this week (photo by Laura Shearer)
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