Whale Track Stories: Minke Madness in the Minch
Recording excursions using Whale Track provides vital effort-based data on the presence and absence of whales in our waters. Andy Lawson, a member of the Whale Track community, shares his incredible excursion on aboard the MV Loch Seaforth ferry
During the past year, I have seen Fin Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, Common Dolphins, Risso’s Dolphins, White-beaked Dolphins and Harbour Porpoise all from aboard Calmac’s MV Loch Seaforth. For the bargain price of £24.60, you can spend 5Hrs 20Mins at sea looking out for cetaceans, and on each trip you never know what you will see!
On the 11th July this year, the Windy app forecast suggested sunshine, minimal wind and low wave-height for the following day i.e. perfect flat-calm conditions, ideal for spotting wildlife. On 12th July, equipped with binoculars, camera, and my iPhone running the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust Whale Track app, I undertook my tenth out-and-back trip of the year, from Ullapool to Stornoway.
Once on board, my companions and I located ourselves on the upper deck, starboard side, to provide a view to the north. If not lucky enough to be on the bridge, which for this trip we weren’t, it’s a gamble whether to opt to watch from port or starboard. As the starboard side had significantly less glare that day, the choice was an easy one.
Five minutes before departing, we had a good omen. A White-tailed Eagle flew directly over our heads. Wow!
As we were leaving Ullapool, I started an excursion on Whale Track. This would allow me to easily log all of our whale, dolphin and porpoise sightings, including their precise locations.
Within minutes of leaving the harbour, we had our first cetacean sighting of the trip. Ordinarily, I would expect to first see either a Harbour Porpoise or Common Dolphin, but we had our first Minke Whale literally just off the campsite round the corner from Ullapool harbour!
After our first Minke, we were soon also seeing, photographing and logging numerous groups of Common Dolphins and Harbour Porpoise.
At 11.50, we saw our second Minke Whale and soon thereafter another three, another two, another one and another one. It then became Minke madness as we approached Stornoway. We saw and logged a further twelve Minke Whales within a ten-minute period. We were also cognisant that we were watching from one side of the ferry, who knows how many more Minke Whales there may also have been off the port side!
On reaching Stornoway, I paused the Whale Track excursion and counted that we had seen twenty-one Minke Whales during our initial crossing.
After a brief, pleasant walk round Stornoway, and some lunch, we made our way back to the ferry for our return crossing. This time we located ourselves on the port side to again have a view to the north.
On returning to Ullapool, the ferry took a more southerly route. Despite taking a different route, we still saw and logged eighteen Minke Whales during the return albeit most of them were alas more distant. We also again had numerous groups of Common Dolphins and Harbour Porpoise.
By the time we reached Ullapool, thanks to the incredibly useful Whale Track app, we could summarise what we had seen during the return trip. A total of 45 separate cetacean sightings consisting of:
39 Minke Whales
116 Common Dolphins
8 Harbour Porpoise
What a day!
Thanks to my companions Pat Douglass and Ann-Marie Wicks for great team-work.
Thank you to Andy for sharing his incredible excursion on the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry.
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