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.

“…Eco green is the best of Ireland’s already famous forty shades. This guide will have you donning your hiking boots, packing your panniers, wriggling into a wetsuit, and galloping across beaches. Green places to stay include lakeside lodges, yurt camps, island retreats, eco-castles, grand houses with more than just grand green gestures, yoga retreats, community-run hostels, switched-on hotels and activity centres throughout the island of Ireland, North and South of the border. You can also find out how to get to all these places using public transport, encouraging car users to think again. Going green on holiday is not about having a guilt trip, it’s about discovering a real Ireland, meeting great people, eating fine local food and seeing all the gems that Ireland has to offer, not just the emeralds…”

…so says the introduction to this new app available now from the iTunes store. This App has been developed by the well known green tourism journalist Catherine Mack.

More details may be seen at the following link…

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ireland-green-travel/id427184283?mt=8

ENDS

An evening with Sea Shepherd Ireland

On Monday 28 March

@ 7:00 Beginning with the Film “First 30 years of Sea Shepherd”

Followed by the Quiz Night with spot prizes and finger food

A Good Night with the film and quiz open to students and general public.

Location NUIG, Corrib Room, College Bar

For further details contact Sue Anthony on 086 067 9933

ENDS

Reports coming in from the pelagic fishing boats off the west coast of Ireland indicate large numbers of Pilot Whales (almost certainly Long Finned Pilot Whales) around 50-60 miles off the southwestern coast and exhibiting the classic spyhopping behaviour so characteristic of the group of large dolphins known as the “blackfish”.

Further reports from the mackerel boats operating off Donegal out of Killybegs have encountered large numbers of Orca feeding off the mackerel as they are being hauled. Some of you may remember this behaviour being recorded for Orca groups in the North Sea and documented on the TV programme Autumnwatch in 2010.

It is possible that this behaviour is being widely learnt by Orca groups around the British, Scottish and Irish coasts and we may hear more reports of this opportunistic behaviour.

What I wouldn’t give to be there and see it first hand!

ENDS

Reports have come into WWWC this afternoon of around 30 Pilot Whales having stranded on a beach in Donegal off Rutland Island. There animals are thought to be mainly mothers and calves which is very sad. There are no survivors.

It is thought that these may be part of a group seen feeding in the waters off Aranmore Island during this past few days.

The cause of this mass stranding is unclear.

ENDS

WHALE BLOWS REPORTED OFF MILL COVE…

WWWC received a report of blows of up to 7 whales off Mill Cove this evening. Probably Fin Whales we will report further when we have the full facts.

We had reports of Fin Whales off Ballycotton two weeks ago, but some way off.

Watch this space.

ENDS

With probabley the best stretch of fine weather on record over the past eight weeks we have been having sightings to match…

From excellent sightings of lunge feeding Minke Whales around the Calf Islands and Tourane Rocks to an estimated 500 Common Dolphins as far up Roaringwater Bay as the Mullin Rock our sightings culminated last night with 5 Risso’s Dolphins close into The Gascanane Sound accompanied by a group of around 75 Common Dolphins feeding. One of the Risso’s had a curled over dorsal fin just like the adult Killer Whale we sighted a few weeks ago.

Lovely tail slapping and breaching behaviour from the Risso’s Dolphins with the characteristic “line abreast” feeding strategy of the Common Dolphins. All in the evening sunlight as the sun set over Cape Clear and the Islands of Roaringwater Bay…magic.

ENDS

The renowned wildlife photographer Sheena Jolley brings her stunning exhibition of wildlife photographs to Kinsale. To be opened by the journalist Donal  Musgrave on 6th July at 6pm in her new gallery in Kinsale,  ”Island Magic” promises to be a truly magical experience. Sheena brings a quality and “feel” to her wildlife images seldom seen in other wildlife photographers.

Full details of Sheena’s forthcoming exhibition and other details of her work may be seen at her website:

http://www.sheenajolleyphotography.com/

Following several days of stunning Minke Whale and Harbour Porpoise sightings we headed out again this morning on a glassy sea with slight swell anticipating finding some feeding Minke Whales offshore…

…a few moments later I picked up an animal surfacing around 100 metres away. Unmistakably the dorsal fin of a young male Killer Whale. Further scanning picked up two more. A larger animal and a younger, adolescent male by the shape of the dorsal fin. The larger animal had a completely bent over, curled dorsal fin. This happens occasionally, even in wild animals, but it is the first time I have seen this in a wild Killer Whale.

Killer Whales are an uncommon sighting along this part of the south coast so it is expecially exciting to be able to log this in addition to the great Minke Whale sightings we have been having. Later in the trip we encountered a large, feeding Minke Whale in Long Island sound no more than a mile off the old castle of Doonanore.

The presence of Killer Whales so close inshore might have accounted for the lack of Harbour Porpoise normally encountered when crossing Roaringwater Bay!!

All topped off with a medium sized, but rather shy, Atlantic Sunfish…

ENDS

Wow. What a weekend!

Stunning views of all three iconic species for this time of year. The Minky Whales were very cooperative with some lovely feeding behaviour underneath clouds of Gannets diving into the water and Manx Shearwaters “buzzing” back and forth across the waters surface…both east and west of Cape Clear.

With the strong sunshine the plankton is high in the water column resulting in several Basking Shark sightings in all the old haunts along the Sherkin and Cape shorelines and as far east as Barlogue.

As if that was not enough the Porpoise sightings have been sublime. A shy, retiring little cetacean, sightings can sometimes be a little short…not so this weekend. Lovely views of this pretty little animal have made all our many customers very happy as we basked in the beautiful West Cork sunshine amid calm seas.

Weather pattern looking like holding for the immediate future…

ENDS

YEAH…FIRST SUNFISH OF THE SEASON REPORTED TODAY…Yeha!

It’s not like me to follow on with another post so soon…but I just have to tell you the Minke Whale watching yesterday was superb…

Several animals both sides of Cape Clear but away off near the Fastnet Rock and Lighthouse we encountered an animal feeding hard. Creating the characteristic huge display of Gannets and Shearwaters this large Minke Whale circled the boat creating a huge bait ball in the water, surfacing regularly with noisy blows and gasps of admiration from my customers on the boat.

Minke Whale watching at it very best. If the weather holds there may well be opportunities for more sightings like that…I am lost for words, not something you are used to!

ENDS

It is always with great expectations that we look at the first part of the season in terms of variety of sightings. The timing of when the animals move inshore to feed varies enormously and the weather conditions can influence our sightings considerably…

Well, for the past three weeks the weather and the sightings have not disappointed in the least and have been, quite frankly, superb. Direct sightings from the boat have included feeding Minke Whales, Basking Sharks, Bottlenose Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises. All species we would expect to see at this time of year. Sightings have been made from as far west as Crookhaven to Galley Head in the east. Lovely sightings of these iconic species in lovely sea conditions.

Although we were “not in the right place at the right time” a Killer Whale was reported by the Cape Ferry as recently as yesterday moving east through the Gascanane Sound. With this being a rare sighting in these southern waters it causes great excitement among the whale watching and non whale watching population equally. The day before we had a group of Bottlenose Dolphins right in the harbour at Baltimore! We have not yet sighted “our” lone Bottlenose Dolphin that we have recorded along this stretch of coast annually now for the past five years…keep you posted.

With the considerable influx of Jellyfish these past 10 days we are expecting that great oceanic wanderer, the Sunfish any day now. Rest assured, we will report as soon as we have a confirmed sighting.

Our move to Baltimore has proved an enormous success. With passenger safety and comfort uppermost in our thoughts, the steps and easy access at Baltimore have made it possible to board many customers this year (and last year) who have some difficulty in movement, something just not possible with the closure of part of Union Hall Pier on safety grounds and the increasingly decrepit state of Reen Pier and the ancient boarding ladder there. With the planned improvements nearing completion at Baltimore, along with wheelchair access, the amenities for the many customers of Whale Watch West Cork can only get better. There is a move afoot to extend the old pier at Baltimore yet further which, along with the excellent places to get a snack or coffee or stay in the village, is fast making BALTIMORE HARBOUR  the whale watching capital of West Cork.

More anon…

ENDS

Good weather conditions and excellent sightings off West Cork herald the start of an action packed season of wildlife sightings.

Bird sightings inshore these past six weeks have been stunning with rafts of razorbills, guillemots and occasional puffins delighting customers young and old. For pure showmanship the gannet steals the avian show with their jaw dropping dives from as high as 100ft into the water – and we have had many exhibitions of this marvel of nature during the past weeks.

We all wait with baited breath for the first basking sharks to arrive during late April and early May. We have not been disappointed this year. From early sightings in Roaringwater Bay we have had some wonderful encounters with large aggregations around Capre Clear, as far west as Crookhaven and east as far as the Galley Head and beyond with many more sightings being phoned in to Whale Watch West Cork by our wide circle of associates and friends along the coast. With warm and sunny weather predicted for the coming couple of weeks we hope these leviathans of the deep, the second largest fish in the world behind the whale shark, will continue to grace our shores well into May. One of the delights of basking shark sightings, especially when encountered in larger groups, are the spectacular leaps or breaches they make out of the water returning their huge bulk to the water with an enormous splash reminiscent of a depth charge going off. This unusual behaviour can be witnessed quite regularly off West Cork among the smaller animals and those reaching lengths in excess of 7 metres.

Talking of breaching. Early minke whale sightings have created some eye opening moments with a single animal breaching in Barlogue Bay and in Baltimore Bay. We encountered this animal in rather brisk conditions around 10 days ago when it breached no more than 40 feet in front of the boat quite unexpectedly following our observations of gannet diving activity in the bay. Later that week it was reported to us of an animal breaching further east along the coast no more than 100 metres from the shoreline and easily visible from the land. It is a lovely sight and one that was not particularly in evidence last year.

Porpoise activity, always a little subdued during the early months, is on the increase. Once the animals start to congergate in larger “family” groups then sighting take on a new dimension. We have had some lovely group encounters with this shy cetacean, Ireland’s smallest whale, during the last few days. Memories of last year’s encounters in the Gascanane Sound and further east off the Stag Rocks and The Galley Head still come back and we hope for similar sighting opportunities this year.

As we move through May we look forward to some of the “firsts” for the year. The first sunfish which were seen by us so early last year and the first to be recorded by us, of breaching behaviour in sunfish. This unique behaviour was seen on two separate occasions but not captured on film alas.

The first common dolphins always bring a surge of joy to even the most hardened hearts. Their playful behaviour, cheesy grin and obvious joie de vivre inspire us all. Although we do encounter groups in the months before July it is the later summer build ups that we look forward to where groups of animals in excess of 150 animals may be regularly encountered.

The mighty fin whale we await in eager anticipation…but we usually have to wait to the closing months of the year for these whales, the second largest on earth.

…’til then I will keep you all posted with details as the season unfolds.

ENDS

Day before yesterday we observed a minke whale south of Rabbit Island followed by a surfacing animal east of Adam Island…possibly the same animal. Travelling and not attracting much bird activity we are looking forward to some settled weather and with lots of visitors about are getting out on the water regularly.

Out and about south of the Kedges yesterday we had a breaching minke whale. A young animal that was attracting a bit of gannet activity. There was a brisk breeze blowing from the notheast which was creating a lumpy, short sea but we saw this animal surface around 40 metres in front of the boat followed shortly afterwards by a single breach well out of the water…and a large splash on re-entry.

With a lot of “feed” showing on the echosounder we are hoping this activity may continue for a few days yet in Baltimore Bay…more blog to come after today.

ENDS