Whale Watching

We walked from Achosnich along the lighthouse road this morning, passing Grigadale Farm land and....

....the bay immediately to the south of the lighthouse, which more resembled a winter scene than a July day.

The purpose of our visit was to join volunteers from the Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, Eilidh, left, and Siobhan, who were spending three hours at Ardnamurchan Point helping visitors who were participating in the National Whale and Dolphin Watch, an event organised by the Sea Watch Foundation. It runs from today until Sunday 6th August and is a good example of a citizen science event, designed to collect data on cetacean occurrence around UK shores over a wide area in as short period of time as possible.

It was a very enjoyable event but the only large object we saw pass wasn't a whale but the Yeoman Bontrup, a bulk carrier on her way to Glensanda quarry to load aggregate.

We also watched several yachts like this one all hurrying north with squalls banking up behind them.

Sadly, the only wildlife we saw in the hour and a half during which we enjoyed very changeable weather were several species of sea birds, including a number of gannets, and a glimpse of what was either an otter or a seal. But, as the HWDT points out, even a negative report is helpful in that it is as important to log where the whales aren't as where they are.

The Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust's website is here.

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