Marine Mammal Surveyors Island Hop in the British Isles

Since 2007, teams of dedicated ORCA Marine Mammal Surveyors have been invited on board Saga cruise ships to provide guests with incredible wildlife experiences through delivering presentations, running deck-watches whilst surveying, and generally being on hand to talk about any wildlife seen on the trips. As well as helping guests to spot and identify marine life, ORCA Marine Mammal Surveyors collect data on the marine mammal sightings. In May, an ORCA team joined guests on board the Spirit of Discovery for an island hopping experience around the British Isles. The ORCA Team Leader on board was Mike, with Wildlife Officer Neil, and Wildlife Guides Julia and Cath. Julia shares the team’s experiences below:

We left Portsmouth expecting to sail to Guernsey, but we were re-routed to the pretty village of Fowey in Cornwall due to poor weather being forecast. This was a bonus for our Wildlife Officer, Neil, who lives near Fowey and who had been expecting a delivery of a fabulous new long lens for his camera which he picked up! From this destination, guests were able to visit the Eden Project, Lanhydrock House and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. On our approach to Fowey in the early morning, we recorded sightings of common dolphins.

The next day we had a busy day at sea, sailing up through the Irish Sea towards Belfast, recording sightings of 92 common dolphins, one unidentified whale and two grey seals. The ORCA team delivered their first presentation to guests about the work that ORCA does and the wildlife that they are likely to see on their trip around the British Isles. Once in Belfast, guests were able to visit the Legendary Giant’s Causeway and the Titanic Experience, but the ORCA team opted to visit a local nature reserve while the ship was docked. At the RSPB nature reserve, we spotted house martin, swift, swallow, sandwich tern, black headed gull, little gull, ducks (tufted mallard and gadwall), coot, moorhen, and black guillemot.

With beautiful weather and a spectacular sunrise, we cruised from Belfast to Holyhead where we spotted two harbour porpoises and one common seal. The ship then made the short transit from Holyhead to Douglas where we again recorded two harbour porpoises and a grey seal during our surveys.

The next day was a full day at sea and a busy day on board for the ORCA Team. We sailed from Douglas, past the Mull of Galloway (southernmost place in Scotland), passing Mull of Kintyre in the early morning. A busy day of recording wildlife with 46 harbour porpoise, one minke whale, six bottlenose dolphins, four common dolphins, one unidentified seal and a whale blow logged during our surveys. Typically, while we were hosting a solo traveller’s lunch, guests informed us that we had missed four common dolphins that were close to the ship! Our ship’s Captain also joined us on deck to enjoy the panoramic views of the Scottish Isles as we headed through the Sound of Mull, and to learn more about our data collection and marine mammal surveying.

Once again, an amazing sunrise greeted us over the Summer Isles on the approach to Ullapool. There were no cetacean sightings, but we did see some seals and otters swimming close to the shore beside the harbour and some greylag geese, eider ducks and a heron were seen when we went ashore. In the early evening, the ORCA Team held a wildlife clinic where guests could learn more about sea mammals that had been seen and were able to pose questions to the team. On leaving Ullapool and heading northwest past the Summer Isles, we spotted some distant splashing which, after zooming in on distant photos, were recorded as white-beaked dolphins.

Our approach to Kirkwall, capital of the Orkney Isles, was disappointing to start with, as there was a heavy mist – a “haar” in the local vocabulary – so all that was seen was a common seal and a wide selection of birds. However, the mist soon cleared and on the local tourist coach trip, a short-eared owl and red throated diver were spotted.

After leaving Kirkwall the ship headed south to our disembarkation port of Dover. During daylight hours we continued our surveys with a solid four hours of no sightings of cetaceans. Then there was a flurry of activity on the deck when one of the guests spotted splashing ahead. Identification revealed two blue fin tuna feeding. A large flock of gannets diving and splashing caught everyone’s attention and two minke whales were seen lunge feeding. This was followed by sightings of two whales breaching in the distance, but these were recorded as unidentified as they were too far away for any photo identification. We were also joined by one grey seal on the homeward journey.

In the afternoon, the ORCA Team hosted a quiz in the Britannia lounge where guests enjoyed a fun, interactive and competitive quiz about cetaceans. This was followed later by a final round up presentation showcasing the different species that had been recorded during our surveys on the cruise.

The team would like to thank Captain Simon Moore, Cruise Directors Paul Hancox and Resty Sacedor and all the crew, as well as all the fantastic guests who made this such an amazing trip.