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Recent Sightings
 April Sightings Summary 30 April 2009 The launch of starquest on the high spring tides in mid march was a good start to the season, as I navigated through the narrows eight common seals were resting on the rocks, some of last years pups in amongst them and then on the starboard a female otter and two pups out on the little island.... It’s good to be back! The weather was kind, in a fashion, with three days of warm sunshine followed by two weeks of frosts and snow! The first few cruises of the season got under way early in April and harbour porpoise were sighted on the first four of our two-hour survey cruises. They seemed to be feeding and foraging just off the south end of Longa Island in about forty metres of water. The harbour porpoise is the smallest of our cetaceans. It is widely recognised as being a species of major conservation concern. Due to its small size and elusive nature the importance of its conservation is often overlooked. I recently spent some time with the Harbour Porpoise Research Department in Denmark learning more about the current impacts this diminutive species faces. I bought away with me some new research techniques, which I will endeavour to incorporate into our ongoing cetacean research. With mostly easterly winds during the latter part of April we have ventured out into the deep Minch and have been rewarded with our first minke whale sighting on the 28th April. It was an adult which was feeding but with very few birds in attendance. A couple of good dorsal fin photos to add to our ID library which contains photos of all visiting cetaceans and basking sharks which we can then use to identify regular visitors. Red-throated divers in winter plumage were frequently sighted in Shieldaig Bay, woodpeckers also began to make themselves heard. A couple of little grebes were seen and razor bills, guillemots and black guillemots all in various phases of winter to summer plumage. Notable for declining numbers at the beginning of this season seem to be the greylag goose and the eider duck, both numbers considerably down on previous years. Better news is the increased sightings of great northern divers this year, on one of cruises we counted seventeen, again all in varying stages of winter to summer plumage. A small raft of common scoters were sighted in the Longa Sound and three long-tailed ducks sighted just further west in the sound. Linnets and redpolls have been showing well in the gorse just at the back of our new centre and a rarity, I managed to capture on camera, a black redstart (see image). Lots of nesting birds already, although not as many herons this year on Shieldaig Island. Fulmars are sitting on eggs on Longa Island. We have also started to record sightings of puffins, but again not in the numbers we were seeing this time last year. Click here to return to list of recent sightings |
