The following day it was back up to the land based site where again we were treated to a sighting of dolphins, this time a lot further out in the Minch. We decided to leave them to it and took our leave, only for them to decide to come with us, travelling alongside on both port and starboard, and bow-riding as we went! We carried on our course and soon they returned to their lunch … having built up more of an appetite. As anthropomorphic as this next bit may sound however, there really is no other explanation for it … two individuals made their way over to the boat, swimming around and under us and having a good look, they returned to the pod and within minutes, the whole pod (including the mothers and calves – of which there were two) were heading our way and coming in for a closer look – obviously the two who’d come over first had had some good things to say about us!! For the next 20 minutes or so they delighted us by surrounding the boat, leaping out the water and splashing all around. Keeping our distance we held back and allowed them to make the first move … which they very soon did. As we exited the loch to head out into the Minch some of the friendly porpoises that we know to use the area came over to check us out and we took this as a good omen of things to come! Within minutes of us arriving in the waters where we’d seen the bottlenose dolphins the day before from land, we saw fins … and were exceedingly happy to note that we’d found the same pod, foraging once more on this obviously productive bit of reef. Always a good sighting! The following day the weather was being kind and we managed to get back out on the boat. We have a permit from the Scottish Government to allow us to spend limited time to photograph the animals as this is helping to build a picture of the population, their health and social structure.)We first spotted a foraging pod of them from our land-based site and as they were pretty close to shore, feeding off a reef, we were able to spot a few young animals in the mix. (It is important to note here that if you do come across dolphins when out on the water that you “must” keep your distance and let the dolphins approach you if they so desire, if they don’t, then leave them alone as they’re obviously busy engaging in other activities and interfering with them can cause them distress and land you in hot water with the authorities. The west coast of Scotland population of these chaps is less studied and less well known than their Moray Firth (or even Cardigan Bay) counterparts and any chance to see them at closer quarters (but not too close mind!) is an absolute delight.
Well, poke me in the eye with a blunt stick if we’ve not just had one of the best first weeks of a fieldwork season out here in the Atlantic Frontier – and given that the weather has now turned and the wind and rain are battering the islands we’re even more grateful for our encounters last week! After a stupendous encounter with a pod of highly exuberant common dolphins (see previous blog), it was the turn of a few other species to make our hearts soar – including the bottlenose dolphin.
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