Unusual whale species recorded off the UK

• The first was in February with sightings of a newborn bottlenose dolphin calf off Anglesey in North Wales. Bottlenose dolphin calves are usually born between March and September.
• In April there were sightings of killer whales in the Irish Sea, off the Isle of Man, earlier in the season than expected.
• In May a group of almost 100 long-finned pilot whales was seen in the Cromarty Firth and then spotted travelling the coast of north east Scotland where they were last observed at Lybster, Caithness. This species rarely visits so close to shore.
• Killer whale (orca) sightings inshore on the northern and north east coasts of Scotland in May were higher than they have been for several years.
• In June and July a sperm whale was identified a number of times off Torbay in Devon. It is rare to see this magnificent animal so far east in the English Channel and in such shallow water.
• Three northern bottlenose whales in Scrabster Harbour, Caithness, were recorded in July by experienced Sea Watch observer Karen Munro (the species of whale that swam up the River Thames in 2006 was a northern bottlenose whale).
• Sea Watch also received confirmed sightings of bottlenose dolphins off Hilbre Island in the Dee estuary in July - one of the most easterly records for the species in the Irish Sea.
• Short-beaked common dolphin sightings are becoming increasingly seen off the north of Scotland and in the North Sea - a few years ago it would be rare to see this species there.
• At the end of July almost 50 white-beaked dolphins were watched from Souter Head, Cove, five miles south of Aberdeen harbour. (Although the white-beaked dolphin is the most common dolphin in the North Sea, it is unusual for such a large group to come so close inshore. They were probably in pursuit of fish).
• On August 1st at least two northern bottlenose whales were recorded in the Wash off Norfolk, heading Southwest. These animals are normally found in deep waters in the North Atlantic. It is thought that some lose their way during the migration from the Norwegian Sea past the Northern Isles to the North Atlantic which is why we sometimes see these animals off the British coast.