Friday, September 01, 2023
The ferry was busy, with clusters of people at both upper rails, so I stayed on the lower seating deck. Looking out to the north at a feeding frenzy of gulls and gannets I caught sight of a whale (11.35). It was too brief to say what it was (although probably a Minke) and it didn't reappear while I was watching. Just over an hour later (12.41), when I had moved from the side rail to the back, I realised belatedly that some excitement among other observers on the side rails had been caused not by dolphins, but by a whale - although I didn't hear anyone say which whale it was. I caught sight of blows way behind us and without much hope, leaned down slightly to aim through the top two bars of the safety rail; there appeared to be two individuals surfacing close together. I wonder if the people on the distant sailing boat saw them.
On the return journey, I spotted whale-blowing towards the Shiant Isles but it was too far away to make out anything more. However, this picture of a minke whale came as a surprise, as I don't recall seeing it (picture timed at 14.17, so just quarter of an hour out from Stornoway)!
A group of six or so people armed with various optics took up the short rail, while another group was in possession of the corner of the lower seating area on the same side of the ship. I'd thought at first the upper group were cetacean watchers by virtue of their headgear: either no hats, or brimmed ones, while the lower group, almost all of whom sported baseball caps, were probably birders. But both groups seemed entirely focused on whales and dolphins, and when a whale was spotted back towards Lewis there was much shouting between the groups, with one man on the upper deck yelling "Two of them - bulls!" Crikey, how on earth could he tell? LATER: They might have been seeing orca, in which case the males stand out by virtue of their very tall dorsal fins.
There was one amusing moment for me when I spotted an Arctic skua chasing kittiwakes over the wake of the ferry. I lost it, scanned wildly, and relocated it. At the same instant a woman to my left remarked to her companion "There it is!" and I was pleased that one person at least was interested in birds. But her next comment "Oh yes, they're much bigger than dolphins" had me scratching my head (metaphorically speaking) - until I realised that instead of referring to the skua, she'd spotted another whale. I promptly lost the skua for the second time and never did manage to see the whale! Oh well, it had been a good day.
