From humpbacks to home baking, our young carers experienced it all!
Each field season, we set sail on research expeditions across Scotland’s west coast, to collect vital data on whales, dolphins, and porpoises. For the first time in a number of years, we invited young carers on board to enjoy this hands-on experience, gain new skills and help deepen the understanding of marine mammal species.
From minke madness and happy humpbacks to rough seas and elusive porpoises, our intrepid young explorers experienced just about everything the west coast has to offer! Over the course of 6 days, two groups of young carers spent time exploring the seas around Mull, Coll and Ardnamurchan, collecting vital visual and acoustic data on marine mammals as well as learning how to sail, and become effective crew members.
With pretty perfect conditions for our first group of young carers, the sightings started almost straight away with some beautiful bow-riding common dolphins so close that some of our young people got splashed as the dolphins started leaping out of the water right next to us! As if that wasn’t enough, we were also treated to some minkes as we made our way towards Moidart for the night. Two of our brave volunteers even ventured up the crow’s nest to get a better view as we headed towards our anchorage.
Our second day then got off to an exciting start as a large blow was seen in the distance, only minutes after setting out for the day. As we veered of our transect line to go “with whale” we spotted that unmistakable tail fluke and confirmed the sighting as a humpback! Everyone on board was in awe as we watched this magnificent creature surfacing several times. From our largest cetacean encounter, to our smallest, the humble harbour porpoise also put on a display for us later that day, with some logging behaviour, giving the crew time to get some great photo ID.
Our second group of young carers surveyed in quite different conditions, with sea state making visual surveying impossible on the second day as we continued on an acoustic only survey. Luckily there was still lots to learn as our team of young people took turns at the helm, doing the majority of the steering throughout the trip! After some challenging conditions, the focus turned to food once at anchor. From a pizza party to home-made millionaire’s shortbread, moral couldn’t be higher!
Both teams thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck in to every aspect of life on Silurian. From tying knots to putting up sails, gathering data to steering the boat, our young people left with a whole host of new skills and confidence - while the crew enjoyed taking a little step back!
The encounters on these trips were not only exciting for everyone involved but help to build a better picture of marine mammals in our seas. Taking time to go “with whale” and get that sought after tail fluke shot of the humpback with is important to be attempt to ID the individual. Humpbacks can travel great distances across the Northeast Atlantic, so these images will be shared with with researchers and organisations studying humpbacks across the region to help track movements and better understand the migratory patterns of these magnificent creatures.
Photo ID for harbour porpoises is more challenging due to their very short surfacing time and elusive nature. Deploying the hydrophone to collect acoustic data is therefore important for identifying species abundance. Seeing logging porpoises is much more unusual, but allowed the crew to get some close up shots of their back and dorsal fins. This also helps to confirm species ID when recording sightings.
Across 6 days of surveying, the Young Carer groups collectively surveyed 283 km, collecting 13 hours of acoustic and visual data. They encountered 7 species of marine mammals from a whopping 79 sightings!
