This page describes highlights of some of the cetacean encounters experienced during the 2010 field season

Please also visit our field note archives from 2003 to 2009 by clicking on the links below:

23 February 2010:  Girdleness lighthouse, Aberdeen, UK

14:18 GMT

"About an hour ago I received a call from Ian Sim of Stonehaven Dolphin Research, telling me that a large group of dolphins were heading north up the coast towards Aberdeen.  It's a beautiful day with calm blue seas and sunny skies, and when I reach Girdleness lighthouse I stop to take a quick scan across the sea.  I'm not expecting to see the dolphins here yet as its about 14 (land) miles from here to Stonehaven, and I am in the process of deciding whether to stay here and wait for them to arrive or whether to head further south to Cove where they will probably pass close to the cliff and give me a better chance of getting some useful photo-Identification images.  However, when I scan south across Nigg Bay I am excited to see the unmistakeable splashes of porpoising dolphins.  They are here already!  And the leading dolphins are moving fast...they are further out to sea than usual and are porpoising strongly through the sea producing 'rooster tails' of spray.  We don't often see bottlenose dolphins behaving in this manner, and I am curious to see whether they will stop at Aberdeen harbour to feed or whether they will continue northwards.  The first wave of dolphins to go past is too far offshore for photo-identification, and I watch them through binoculars instead.  More and more dolphins appear at Nigg Bay...they seem to be spread over a large area and groups of up to 10 animals come past at a time with several minutes in between some of them.  Some of the dolphin schools are much closer to shore, and a group of roosting eider ducks get a shock when one large bottlenose surfaces amongst them! 

All of the dolphins are travelling very purposefully...I get the impression that they are on the way to somewhere and aren't in the mood for wasting time.  Almost every group of dolphins seems to speed up notably once they pass the lighthouse, with aerial activity and much splashing.  A businessman stops his car and enquires about the identity of these animals...I explain that they are part of the Moray Firth bottlenose dolphin population and he tells me that he took his family to Chanonry Point in the Moray Firth for a week last year and didn't see a single dolphin!  Together we estimate that at least 60 and probably 70 or so dolphins have come past the lighthouse in the 45 min period from start to finish.  When I drive around to the harbour mouth there are a couple of dolphins just leaving the breakwater, but most of them are several kilometres north and I can see them through binoculars spread all across Aberdeen Bay from the beach to quite far offshore.  I'd love to know where they are heading in such a hurry!"

Later analysis of the photographs allowed the identification of one animal - Black 'n' Decker (No 29 in the Aberdeen Cetacean Catalogue) - unfortunately the other dolphins were simply too far from the coast to obtain images of sufficient quality to permit identification.

9 February 2010:  Ecotourism boat, Kenya, East Africa

07:11 GMT

"When most of your work with bottlenose dolphins is carried out with the large common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the turbid grey North Sea, it comes as something of a shock to see their smaller relatives the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) swimming in clear blue tropical waters!  The school is small and contains just four animals including a young calf.  The dolphins politely stop at the bow of our ecotourism boat and pose for tourist photographs, as if this is all part of their daily routine.  Indeed it probably is, since in this area of Kenya several boats go out to sea daily to show tourists dolphins and other wildlife, and I suspect the local bottlenose dolphin community is well used to such visits.  Two further boats full of tourists motor towards us, and the dolphins duly pay a visit to the bow of each of them.  The clear blue water is a real treat, allowing us to observe the dolphins easily as they swim below the surface and interact with one another.  

After briefly amusing themselves with the boats, the dolphins return to foraging with lots of tail-up dives, changes of direction and the occasional leap.  The young calf is not able to hold its breath for as long as the adults, and frequently surfaces alone and with considerable energy, splashing the water with its tail.  The calf is too small to be weaned, and with a regular supply of milk available from its mother then it probably has less interest in hunting prey than the other dolphins!  With the excellent visibility, we can see the youngster reunite with its mother when she returns to the surface from deeper dives.  I am struck by the relative ease of working with cetaceans in such idyllic conditions…being able to track the animals as they swim below the surface offers many advantages in terms of behavioural focal follows, evaluating social structure and carrying out photo-identification work.  And the calm seas and excellent light make photographic work much easier here compared to my usual study area in the North Sea."