Welcome to Day 3 of the National Whale and Dolphin Watch! Another very windy day for us all, but many have braved the weather and completed their watches today. We now have a total of 114 sightings! This is increasing as people continue to submit their recording forms, so keep an eye on the NWDW 2020 sightings page for the latest updates.
My Watch
I visited Jenny Cliff in Plymouth, Devon today. This morning was very wet and windy so I postponed my watch until the afternoon where I just about avoided the rain. The water was quite choppy today and visibility was good. Still no cetaceans for me, but I am still hopeful for the rest of the week!
Sea Watch Foundation watch point at Filey, Yorkshire © Robin Petch
Your Watches
56 watches overall today; 19 in Scotland, 7 in Wales and 30 in England. There has been porpoise and minke action in Levenwick, Shetland reported by Karen Hall; and Ivor Clark, Carol Ashby and Jacqueline Ransom-Thompson all reported bottlenose dolphins in Newbiggin, Northumberland at separate times today!
A sighting of a well known Risso’s x bottlenose dolphin hybrid was also reported today! Steve Dodd spotted ‘Dan’ swimming with two other Risso’s dolphins from Tiumpan Head Lighthouse, Outer Hebrides. A study investigating the hybridisation between free-ranging Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) was published by members of staff from Whale and Dolphin Conservation in 2019. If you are interested in finding out more you can find this paper here.
Here’s a map of today’s sightings so far:
Well done to everybody who has been out on watch today! Don’t forget to submit your sightings online and then send in your recording forms to formsswf@gmail.com.
Have a good evening and let’s get back out there tomorrow!
Jasmin
Sea Watch Research Intern
NWDW Feature Blogger
