Welcome to Day 5 of the National Whale and Dolphin Watch! There have now been 239 cetacean sightings reported! So far we have had 25 sightings from today – a great effort from all involved.
My Watch
The weather has been absolutely beautiful today! I felt sure I would see some cetaceans, but alas, still no sightings from me. I was just up from Renney Point which looks beyond Plymouth Breakwater and out into the English Channel. Boat traffic was quite high today. Despite not seeing any cetaceans, spending time by the ocean is a perfect use of a Wednesday afternoon, if you ask me! I did see a small group of oystercatchers, which I am told is known as a “stew” or “parcel” of oystercatchers.
Your Watches
A total of 54 watches today; 17 in Scotland, 27 in England, 9 in Wales and 1 in the Channel Islands. There has been lots of activity up in North West Scotland and Outer Hebrides throughout the day; a total of 56 common dolphins have been reported by individual watches going on in the Outer Hebrides! There have also been 4 minke whales spotted in Scotland. The North East is still doing very well for bottlenose dolphin sightings too!
You never know what you might see during your watch – Andrea Duxbury spotted a sunfish whilst watching off Prawle Point in South Devon today. Sunfish (mola mola) are large circular fish. They have elongated dorsal and anal fins which, at first glance, might be mistake for a shark. They’re often seen basking in the sun, hence the name, and have even been known to leap out of the water. Did you know they can reach up to 2.5 tonnes?!
We’ve got quite a busy sightings map today – sightings are regularly being added to the database, so remember to check the sightings page for the most up to date results!
If you’d like to be featured in the National Whale and Dolphin Watch Diaries, remember you can email me at formsswf@gmail.com. I’d love to see your photos and hear how you’ve been getting on with the watch.
The NWDW Team are doing a fantastic job processing all the sightings every day of the watch. Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
Jasmin
Sea Watch Research Intern
NWDW Feature Blogger
