A roundup on the 2011 season in West Cork…

The 2011 season kicked off with the most amazingly calm seas and lovely balmy weather, not really what you would expect for late March/early April off West Cork! These lovely conditions were accompanied by fabulous early sightings of adolescent minke whales moving well inshore to feed around the islands of Roaringwater Bay. We also had some of the earliest sightings of small groups of sub-adult common dolphins feeding in the sound between Cape Clear and The Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse. Frenetic reports of killer whale activity, possibly group feeding on a minke whale off The Mizen, early in April  turned out to be a pod of around 50 Risso’s dolphins. Very easy to mistake them for killer whales with that disproportionately large dorsal fin. We encountered this species again during late April and May.

One memorable week in July stays with us when three minke whales commenced feeding close into the cliffs at the tip of Cape Clear Island affording us some lovely close encounters as we drifted, engines off. This “group” consisted of an adult, a sub adult and a calf which we think were related. The adult we believe was the mother of the sub-adult from a previous year while the juvenile was a youngster from the current year. We did not have hard evidence to support this other than the fact that we saw them together on several occasions throughout the season. This was some of the best minke whale watching we have had this year as we drifted on the ebbing tide watching these animals feeding beneath large flocks of Manx shearwaters and diving gannets, not more than a stones throw from the most southerly cliffs in Ireland.

Our West Cork leviathans, the mighty fin whale, put in an appearance during July feeding off their old haunts, The Galley Head and south of The Stag Rocks. This proved to be a rather short lived interlude but it was lovely to see the return of animals we have been following for the past several years through our non invasive photo ID project. The weather during the autumn, when we normally make a day long forays to the east to see this iconic species, hampered out efforts with gales setting in early September and not letting up much until the end of November. There is always next year! Whale watchers have to be the eternal optimists.

During the early fine weather we encountered some good sized basking sharks in the traditional haunts along the east coast of Sherkin Island, off Toe Head and throughout Roaringwater Bay, trawling for the phytoplankton blooms that occur in the shallow coastal waters during these early warm spells of weather. West Cork is one of the places where we encounter the unusual breaching behaviour in basking sharks and it is a spectacle to behold when these large four and five tonne animals launch themselves out of the water and create a splash like a depth charge going off when they re-enter the water. A sighting of a young basking shark during late August constituted a first for Whale Watch West Cork this year…this was the latest sighting of this species we have had off this part of West Cork during the last 10 years…normally basking shark activity has come to a stop by the middle of July.

One of the many highlights of the season was our numerous sightings of leatherback turtles we made off the islands between the Stag Rocks and The Mizen. The largest specimen we saw was over six feet long and the sight of these huge marine reptiles was a special treat as they are getting rarer and like so many marine species are under huge threat from the commercial fishing industry on a world wide basis, especially long line and gill net fisheries.

On the bird front we saw an increase in the numbers of Manx shearwaters, seeing increasing numbers as early as the first week of April and good numbers of juvenile gannets. Razorbill numbers during 2011 were up on previous years with the European guillemots and black guillemots maintaining their numbers. Puffin numbers still remain fairly low although sightings inshore rose slightly during 2011 on the previous few years. Although we suspect there may be a few breeding pairs of puffins on the islands along this part of the coast the absence of a significant breeding colony probably means that numbers will remain fairly sparce for this species in the immediate future.

With the memories of these lovely sightings during 2011 we look forward with anticipation to starting operations again during the last part of March 2012.

Tours depart at 9.30am, 2pm and 7pm daily from BALTIMORE HARBOUR. 4 hours tours and 2 hour tours. 7 days a week.

ENDS

The Wildlife Film School – wildlife photography tours and expeditions

Following the extremely popular boat based tours we have been running for wildlife and landscape/seascape photography enthusiasts we are teaming up again with The Wildlife Film School to run boat based photography tours aboard Voyager during 2012. Evening tours to capture sunsets over the iconic Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse have proved very popular and our tutor led “landscape days” where we drop a group off on Cape Clear Island for the day, returning via The Fastnet Rock and islands of Roaringwater Bay following pick up are a firm favourite with local and visiting photographers.

Groups and individuals are all welcome. For further details click here and join the mailing list if you would like regular updates on boat based photography tours and expeditions.

During February 2012 we are running a wildlife and landscape photography expedition to The Sea of Cortez, Baja California Sur, Mexico where there will be many opportunities for large whale photography both in the Sea of Cortez with humpback whales and also on the Pacific side of the peninsular with the gray whales and their calves of Puerto San Carlos and Magdalena Bay.

Landscape photography enthusiasts will not be disappointed with the amazing desert landscapes with the amazing “stovepipe” cacti characterised in the western movies we used to watch as kids. The islands and bays of the Sea of Cortez provide some of the very best seascape images I have ever seen.

If escaping the winter blues and indulging your passion for photography appeals to you then click here for more information.

ENDS

Updates to our Mailing Lists…

We are undergoing a thorough list cleaning during the later part of 2011 and early 2012 and we would ask that you take just a few moments to update your email preferences and which newsletters and email updates you would like to be subscribed to..

If you WOULD LIKE TO SUBSCRIBE to any newsletter

This can be done in one of two ways..

1) You can email us directly requesting to be put on the Whale Watch West Cork newsletter and update mailing list simply by putting SUBSCRIBE in the subject box of the email. You will be placed on the mailing list.

2) You may enter the website at http://www.whalewatchwestcork.com and simply click on the Join our Mailing List lozenge on the right hand side and select your preferences. Click Her

If you WOULD LIKE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from any newsletter

This can be done in one of two ways…

1) If you receive a newsletter you can email us directly and put UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject box of the email. You will be removed immediately from the mailing list.

2) On any email newsletter or update you may receive you can click on the link at the bottom which says Manage your Subscription. This will take you to a page where you can select your email subscription preferences.

If you have any questions about the management of your subscriptions which you cannot find answers to please don’t hesitate to contact Whale Watch West Cork directly by email or phone, full contact details are on the website.

ENDS

In between the windy weather we are getting some love sightings of Minke Whales and Harbour Porpoise and surprisingly good Common Dolphin sightings – which is quite early for this species…

Out on the water now…will update

ENDS

One of the largest Fin Whale gatherings ever recorded off the british or Irish coast has been spotted in the Celtic deep off the North Cornwall coast…70 odd miles offshore which makes them a little difficult for the morning tour!!

Perhaps they will move inshore…?

Click here for more details

ENDS

Here is a short clip taken recently by Rory Jackson as a large basking shark cruised past his RIB much to the delight of the children!

A Blue Whale was spotted from the Brittany Ferry three hours out of Santander last week. There was much excitement all round as these huge animals are rarely spotted in European waters and if they are it is usually towards the end of the summer when the big Fin Whales move into the bay to feed.

Click here for more details

There was an acoustic study conducted by Cornell University some years ago that indicated there may be more Blue Whales in the North Eastern Atlantic than previously thought.

What a lovely week…weather and sightings.

Great sightings and lovely weather concluded an excellent April. Some lovely sightings of Risso’s Dolphins made the week for many of our customers but also good Minke Whale sightings and more Basking Sharks under a warm sun and on calm seas enhanced the tours we have run every day this week.

Here are just some of the images we managed to get amid the excitement…

Basking Shark

 We have had several Basking Shark sightings this week…

Fulmar - our very own albatross

a not very good - Risso's Dolphin

I called my friend Micheál when we found these Risso’s Dolphins and he managed to get this shot of Voyager and customers enjoying the company of these enigmatic animals as they foraged between the tip Cape Clear Island and the iconic landmark (or is it seamark) …The Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse…one of the top 10 most famous lighthouses in the world!

Voyager among Risso's Dolphins

Thanks for the image Micheál…

Minke Whale Feeding

ENDS…for now!

The warm sunshine is bring the phytoplankton to the surface waters and this is attracting the Basking Sharks. We encountered three “Baskers” this afternnon on the south side of Sherkin Island all good sized animals of around 7 metres long. It is lovely to start to get regular sightings of these huge animals…the second largist fish in the world!

Ian O’Driscoll phoned through a possible sighting of Killer Whales today but searches by another boat this morning did not reveal this species…later this afternoon however, WWWC encountered a group of Risso’s Dolphins between Cape Clear and The Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse heading east from The Mizen Head. It is likely these were the animals seen this morning and thought to be Killer Whales. They were all large animals with very large dorsal fins and are the species most commonly confused with Killer Whales.

We were stopped by a small boat during this afternoon tour who had been around The Mizen and they said they had seen many more animals earlier in the day including some very young Risso’s Dolphins. A lovely sighting of this unusual species.

ENDS

Although April is early in the season and sightings can be a little sporadic we have really had some lovely sightings this past two weeks during some really excellent weather.

For the third time this month we have encountered a rather shy and retiring Minke Whale east of Cape Clear island, a traditionally excellent spot for Minkes, but usually later in the season. We suspect there were two animals but could only confirm the presence of one animal.

Since our early April Basking Shark sighting off  The Kedges we have not encountered any more but the sea conditions have not been conducive to sighting these fish, the second largest fish in the world! May going into June is usually a better sighting time for Baskers but with evident plankton blooms in the water we may start to get regular views of this amazing animal earlier in the season.

We have had some lovely early Harbour Porpoise sightings around the islands of Roaringwater Bay and east to the Toe Head – single animals and in small “family” groups. These lovely little animals, the smallest of the toothed whale species to come into Irish waters during this part of the season, are greatly underrated. Shy and retiring and not liking boats, engines or people very much, good sightings as we have had this week, are a real treat.

The highlight of this week has to be the encounter with a group of 40+ Short Beaked Common Dolphins, unusually right in Roaringwater Bay close into the Gascanane Sound. We had a supergroup towards the end of last season in the same place numbering over 500 animals. It is quite unusual to see such a large group this early in the season but was a real treat for our customers that day which started off a little misty.

Short-beaked Common Dolphins

On a sadder note a very decomposed body of a small toothed whale washed up on the beach of one of Toe Head during the last two days. Thanks to Rory Jackson who notified WWWC immediately he found it managed to get some pictures on his camera phone before the tide reclaimed it. Looking at the pictures (very difficult as it was so decomposed) we are fairly sure that it is a Risso’s Dolphin or small Pilot Whale. Live and dead strandings have been on the increase in Ireland over the past few years, a worrying trend given the ever increasing strains being put on marine ecosystems both here and elsewhere in the world.

Mid Section of Dead Whale

With the fantastic weather during the last few weeks we have been running tours from the end of March having had early sightings of minke whale and basking sharks off Toe Head and The Kedges respectively during the closing days of the first quarter. Reports of basking shark sightings off the west and east coast were also recorded by sharp eyed individuals enjoying the Spring sunshine.

Although we have a spell of a few days of unsettled weather coming through at the moment the week forecast is looking good and we anticipate a return to settled weather towards the end of the week when we will be able to start getting further afield for early sightings off The galley Head, The Mizen Head and around The Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse.

This all bodes well for this summer being another cracker like last year with equally stunning sightings to match. With the increase in plankton blooms inshore we anticipate more basking shark activity once the inshore water calm further.

Baslking Shark off The Kedges

Minke Whale (taken 2010)