Risso's Dolphin and Sunset

On Wednesday evening we had the boat ready to go for our sunset cruise and with all the guests on board the boat we headed out of the harbour and towards the islands.
My crewman Chris was chatting to the guests while I steered the boat to the islands. When Chris came back into the wheelhouse he made himself a cuppa and sat down then all of a sudden he said I think I've just seen a harbour porpoise.

I quickly stopped the boat and waited to see if it would come back up again. We both kept on looking when Chris said there it is, but we knew there and then it was not a porpoise but a dolphin. All our guests were getting excited by now, and then it just disappeared. We waited for a little while and then it surfaced again. My jaw dropped to the deck and I ran back into the wheelhouse, grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. After it surfaced a couple of times, I looked a Chris and said I'm sure its a Risso's Dolphin. In fact I'm positive it is.

It was on its own and gently moving through the water very slowly only surfacing on occasions.  When we did get a good look at it you could see the white scars covered along the side of its body and of course the most noticeable thing about it was it's bulbous forehead with no beak. It also had  tall dorsal fin which was also covered in scars and I have later read that the more scars it has, the older the dolphin is, but to be honest in the heat of the moment I was not bothered how old it was but more excited about seeing such an unusual species. It was my first and if it was not for Chris spotting it in the first place I would never have seen it, so thank you Chris.

I have also found out that the last time a Risso's were sighted at the was back in September 2014, so if we were never out on a sunset cruise we would have never seen such a beautiful mammal, and the Farnes would have missed a great record. This is only the 7th sighting and is rare for the Farnes and the last sightings were in 1996, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2014.  I also received a text saying that Risso's were seen of Howick, St Mary's Island and Newbiggin in early July and I was also told that they are not keen on boats so they will avoid detection for long periods of time. This would make total sense and this is why we waited and waited before it surfaced again, but eventually we lost it in the evening sun so we continued with our sunset cruise with massive smiles on our faces. Well I was anyway.

During the cruise I could not stop thinking about how unusual looking it was compared to Bottlenose Dolphins and it made me realise what a special place this is and I get the opportunity to do it every day and as the sunset cruise came to the end we topped it all off with a cracking sunset over Bamburgh Castle on the way home.

I have to thank Chris for a great spot and to all our guests who joined us last night. Thank you and if I have the wrong dates or wrote something wrong please let me know as I would love to learn more.

Once again thank you for reading our blog and don't forget you can also follow us on Twitter , Facebook or Instagram for lots of up dates. 

OVER AND OUT

Easter Treats

Its been typical Easter weather over the last four days, but we have been able to get out and about which is the main thing.
The only thing we did not have this weekend is snow but its been freezing enough to feel like its going to snow.
The icing on the cake this weekend was the Bottlenose Dolphins.

It started on Good Friday with a pod of 9 feeding in Staple Sound, which is between the Outer group and the Inner group of the Farnes. They were in no hurry at and as they swam beside the boat with one eye looking up as they passed. This is the slowest I can seen them swim but it does have its advantages as it makes them really easy to photograph especially if you are someone that does not have a fast shutter speed on your camera.

Saturday we only had 4 and they were in no mood to hang around either.

Sunday I missed them but my brother got them just as he left the harbour and he followed them all the way to the Inner Farne.

Monday I managed to catch up with them but if it was not for my brother I think I would have missed them again. Once again he caught up with them just outside the harbour and followed them just past the Inner Farne but then left them when I arrived. I was on my landing trip but we managed to see them until we were level with Stag Rock and then we turned back to the Inner Farne where we were going to land our guests.

Over all it was a cracking weekend for Serenity and I hope we are entertained by these beautiful creatures the rest of the season.  

I also got a few little videos on my phone which always great to watch back afterwards. You can see some of these videos on our Facebook Twitter and Instagram pages.

Just a selection of some the dolphins we have seen over the last few days.

Once again thank you for reading our blog and don't forget we are also on YouTube now

OVER AND OUT

Seal Trip

On Saturday 10th November we had our 2nd Seal Photography Trip and it was a beautiful day. The light was perfect for photography and I was praying it would stay that way.

After a few hours on the Island the gang boarded the boat for our tour around the Farnes before heading home.

As we were slowly cruising around taking every opportunity to get that special picture we stumbled across a Long-tailed Duck.

Long-tailed Duck you say, but it's not very often we see these lovely birds around the Islands as we tend to see them more at Ross Sands and up to Holy Island than we do here, so for me and my guests it was nice to see.

After a few shots we started to head towards the Inner Farne when I got a call to say that the Dolphins were back again.

Yes I know...we got them again and yes your probably sick of my blogs about these beautiful creatures, but hey I don't care, they are truly amazing and we don't see them that often here so I think they deserve to be blogged about.  Anyway it's not about me, it was about my guests and they deserved to see them in there full glory, and boy did they.

The group was about 40 to 50 and they were spread from Seahouses harbour entrance all the way up to Bamburgh Castle. The reason I know this was because my friend was close to the harbour and he had about 20 with him and we had about 30 but as they left him we seemed to get more.

They were putting on a bit of a show to, as they jumping high out of the water. The only thing wrong was that I had the wrong lense, it would have been nice to have a wide angle but hey you can't have it all.

After about half an hour the dolphins disappeared so we steamed back to the harbour with smiles on our faces after a very enjoyable day. 

A big thank you to everyone to joined me today and I look forward to our next one.

 



 

 

 

 

Dolphin Week

Sunday 4th November was just a great evening with the Dolphins and to be honest I thought I would never see them again but this week I have seen them on 3 separate occasions and I must say you can never get tired of them.

On Friday I was on my way out with divers when I received a call from Graham (A Ranger on the Farnes) saying that there was Dolphins on my port side of the boat. As I turned the boat towards the shore there was about 25 of them playing with another boat.

As we got closer you could tell they were in a playful mood. They were jumping out of the water and bow riding the other boat waves.

The boat turned and headed towards the harbour and it was our turn. I slowly moved in and adjusted the speed of the boat gently so that they would come and play with the boat. Oh boy were they having fun playing with the boat.

As I was watching them I noticed a couple with the same markings as the other day. This could not be the same pod but then one came out of the water and I noticed the same marks on the back beside the dorsal fin. There was also 4 youngsters which was the same as the other day.

I have also heard some rumours that the dolphins are from The Tay as they disappeared from there about 3 weeks ago. They tend to go up to the Black Isle in the Murry Firth but they have been known to come down this way first before they head up north.

Hopefully I will find out soon, when I send some of my pictures of  to be identified. Anyway here are a few pictures just now.