Hello and welcome all to National Whale and Dolphin Watch Dairies 2021! Let’s take a look at the weekend highlights.
July 26th, 2021
There were 52 watches today; 14 in Scotland, 8 in Wales, 28 England, and 2 from Northern Ireland. We’ve had a great start to the watch with 116 sightings reported (and more are streaming in as we speak) of 7 different marine species. Check the map below to see some of the sightings which were verified by our Sightings Team:
- Bottlenose dolphin
- Grey seal
- Harbour porpoise
- Minke whale
- Risso’s dolphin
- Common dolphin
- White-beaked dolphin
We’ve had reports of four Risso’s dolphins slow travelling, logging and surfacing off Newquay, Cornwall from Terry Carne and Charlotte Bright and Andy McKenzie. We also received many sightings of minke whales with one spotted 800 meters off Covesea, Moray by Alan Airey.
“Out of nowhere this minke surfaced right amongst the group of 28+ bottlenose dolphins that were charging westwards chasing fish” Alan Airey
Bottlenose dolphins were recorded by many observers on the day but Jane Hardy reported a very large pod of 20 quite spread from Cullernose Point, Northumberland.
To see the full list of all verified sightings recorded during National Whale and Dolphin Watch click here.
Please remember to keep submitting your sightings online via our sightings form or using the Sea Watcher App before you submit your recording forms to nwdw2021@gmail.com. Remember that records of species absence are just as important! So please send in your recording forms even if you don’t see any cetaceans.
You have until midnight on the 15th of August to return your recording forms or let us know you submitted all your data via the App, for a chance to win prizes from our amazing sponsors! Go to our competition page to find our more.
Don’t forget to join our on-site and online events during the NWDW week! For more information check this page and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the organizers at outreach@seawatchfoundation.org.uk.
I would love to hear from you about how you’re getting on with the National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2021. If you’d like to be featured in one of the diary entries, please get in touch at nwdw2021@gmail.com and tell us all about it! Please write “NWDW 2021 Diaries” in your email subject line.
Thank you to all our official partners who are greatly contributing to the success of this year’s National Whale and Dolphin Watch.
How you can support us:
- Make a donation
- Join our Membership Scheme
- Adopt a Dolphin
See you tomorrow for Day 4!
Chiara G SWF Sightings Officer NWDW Lead Organizer NWDW Feature Blogger
