Eight species reported in UK national whale and dolphin watch week
29/07/2009 16:38:26
Common dolphins were seen off the Hebrides and the north east coast of Scotland. Credit Seawatch.
July 2009. Volunteers and members of the public have been reporting sightings of a wide variety of whales, dolphins and harbour porpoises around the UK. There have been reports of eight different species, and unconfirmed reports of a long finned pilot whale reported via boat operators in the Channel Islands would make it nine species.
Amongst notable sightings of species reported are:
Risso's dolphins - regularly seen off the Isle of Man & the north coast of Scotland.
White-beaked dolphins - 30 seen off Aberdeenshire
Minke whales - one reported lunge feeding near Banff, Moray, with other sightings in the Moray Firth and the Hebrides around Scotland.
Humpback whale - seen off Oxna Isle, Scalloway, Shetland by the Shetland Sea Mammal Group and a probable sighting in the Moray Firth. If confirmed this would be rare sighting of this species here.
Bottlenose dolphins off Scarborough - if confirmed this sighting of a group of 11 would be the furthest south on the east coast they have been reported. They may be associated with the bottlenose dolphins that are resident in the Moray Firth, some of which have been positively identified off Whitby earlier in the month. Many sightings off Wales.
A group of 40+ common dolphins 1-2 miles off Lybster, following a trend which began only a few years ago for common dolphins to be seen this far north
Harbour porpoises and bottlenose dolphins are also being widely reported around the coast, including the South West of England and Wales.
A number of Orca (killer whale) sightings have been reported off Shetland & the Isle of Man
National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2009 is sponsored by BG Group
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