Over six days at sea, our intrepid team of citizen scientists surveyed waters around Mull and the Southern Hebrides following Storm Amy. Despite challenging conditions, our team surveyed over 400km of Hebridean waters encountering four species of marine mammal. Read all about their experiences here. . .

Each field season (April - Oct), we set sail on research expeditions across Scotland’s west coast, inviting passionate individuals to join us in safeguarding marine life. By collecting vital data, these hands-on voyages are helping to deepen the understanding of species and drive real change to protect the marine mammals of Scotland’s seas.

When Storm Amy shut down the ferries from Oban and power across Mull for three days most people would have stayed home. Not us! Determined to begin a week of marine research aboard Silurian, our dedicated team of citizen scientists worked out a plan and re-routed across the Morvern peninsula to arrive on the island - wet, windblown and wildly excited!

Surveying Loch Linnhe, a frenzy of diving gannets led us to harbour porpoises and seals “bottling” on the surface, whilst our morning manifestation chats paid off with bow riding common dolphins leaping through the swell, much to everyone’s excitement, to join the Silurian through the Sound of Jura and Firth of Lorne. Testing our understanding of the survey protocol right until the last minute, the majority of our sightings were on the last day of survey as we headed up the Sound of Mull to Tobermory. A flurry of foraging and logging harbour porpoises, followed by a pod of common dolphins, grey seals and even more porpoise; each person aboard (including crew!) were able to shout SIGHTING one final time before the end of the season!

The weather throughout the survey was a mix between grey skies, relentless rain, and winds that tested every layer of waterproofing we owned, vs beautiful blue skies with sunlight hitting the sea and highlighting the dramatic autumnal scenery.

Evenings included exploring the anchorages of Kerrera, West Loch Tarbet and Loch Spelve as well as the bright lights of Craighouse, Jura where the local pub, shop and distillery conveniently share the same postcode! Delights from the galley included Brians famous mac + cheese, Zoe’s chocolate brownies as well as Georgina’s delicious cinnamon buns.

Despite the challenging conditions, the crew aboard Silurian surveyed 411km of Hebridean waters, gathering 37 hours of visual and acoustic data. Four species of marine mammal were encountered across 47 sightings including common seals, grey seals, harbour porpoise and common dolphins. 163 creels and 9 pieces of rubbish were recorded during the survey.

Wild weather showed off fantastic bird life with soaring white tailed eagles, an unexpected sighting of a Leach’s Petrel and hen harriers dancing along the headlands amongst the usual marine species of gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes and even tysties in winter plumage! Wild goats and red deer were also seen and heard whilst at anchor in the evenings.