Another amazing trip with Steve Truluck at Hebridean Whales Cruises, we set
sail from Gairloch and headed up to the summer Isles north of Ullapool. We saw
an amazing 19 minke whales, around 30 common dolphins and about 10 harbour
porpoise.
We saw this Minke whale lunge feeding. What looks like an orca fin at the back is actually
the minke's tail. The animal is on it's side lunging towards it's prey.
When it emerged it produced this impressive blow which you could easily mistake for a larger species. I'm told that blows like this from a minke are uncommon and usually only happen when the animal has been working hard, as in this case.
Perhaps the light also plays a part, this animal was viewed against the light
and in the early morning, maybe if you had viewed from the opposite side the
blow wouldn't have been so visible.
Pretty impressive though...
...and here is the whale which emerged following the blows. A minke whale.
Minke whale.
Common dolphin
Not a great number of seabirds seen today but I did manage to find at least
three sooty shearwaters.
Also about 50 manx shearwaters...
...and about 30 storm petrels.
Bonxie.
Black guillemots.
Kittiwakes,
The Minch was unbelievably calm today.
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