Christine's walking & birds blog

Before going back on deck, we called in at the Coffee Cabin and had a slice of their very nice raspberry and coconut cake each, Greger with his usual black coffee, me with a comforting hot chocolate. Thus fortified, we returned to the field of battle!

Greger's good as spotting things, and he would call out whenever he saw a bird; it was just unfortunate that there was nothing unusual (and very little that was usual, come to that!) to be seen. Dolphins were once again much in evidence, and I snapped away at them, although I knew the shots were rubbish and would probably all end up in the bin.

In one small pod (at 15.25 - one hour from Stornoway) the animals were extremely active, leaping and splashing at some distance to the south. I felt they were different from common dolphins, and when I had a quick look at one picture through the viewfinder, I thought I could detect a whitish flash or wavy stripe along the animal's flank. I've had this before though, where white "marks" turn out to be just foam or spray from the disturbed sea - but on the other hand, I couldn't make out the distinctive hourglass pattern of the common dolphin. I kept thinking of white-sided dolphin, but having blown up the poor pictures at home and done some research, I'm pretty confident that these were white-beaked dolphins.