This is a post written whilst working as an Ocean Conservationist with ORCA
I have just finished my fourth rotation on King Seaways, I can’t believe that half of my time on King Seaways has passed already. The good thing is, it seems that the summer season has started in the North Sea with more animals being sighted then before! The weather and sea state did help as well as a couple of groups who were very keen indeed to spot some of the amazing wildlife of the North Sea.
The first days not much was seen, the North Sea was its usual slightly choppy self. But then the sea calmed down to near mirror conditions, and I was joined by a Dutch wildlife group from Delta Safari on their way to the Farne Islands. The group was very eager to spot some marine mammals and sea birds from the observation deck. That evening leaving the Netherlands we saw over 40 harbour porpoises, some of the porpoises were mother calf pairs. And as the sun was setting the lighting became very good to see something special, the blow of a harbour porpoise. I still have that image of a silhouetted harbour porpoise and its blow against the setting sun printed on my retinas. The next morning most of us got up quite early and immediately continued where we left of , seeing loads of harbour porpoises. Which is not strange at all, as the harbour porpoise is the most common and most frequent sighting of the North Sea. In the end of that first week I saw more than 120 harbour porpoises, which is far more then we normally see in a week. After seeing quite a few porpoises, we really wanted to see some dolphin action.
And we were in luck, as some of us started seeing some splashes on the horizon and as the ship got closer and closer, I was able to identify them as white beaked dolphins. And they did show some amazing acrobatics with lots of jumping! And not too long after this group, we saw some more splashes and it turned out to be a second pod of white beaked dolphins! It was great to be doing these observation with wildlife enthusiasts, we were able to share some information with each other. I of course shared many information on all of our whale and dolphins species. Like that the chances of seeing a minke whale are the best from July onwards although we have seen a couple minke whales already during this season. They, in turn, were able to tell me that after Guillemot chicks hatch, they stay on the cliffs for around 20 days, after which they jump down and swim with their father out at sea, where they continue to grow until they can fly and are independent. After this crossing with this Delta safari group, two more groups joined me later in this rotation. But unfortunately the sea was less friendly for these crossings, although we did have some sightings.
Bottlenose dolphins of the North East
Now let me talk about the bottlenose dolphin of the North East England. The bottlenose dolphins of the North Sea are amongst the largest bottlenose dolphins in the world. They can reach a length of 4m, and are a bit more on the chunkier side. These dolphins eat lots of fat fish (Salmon) to get thick layer of blubber, the North Sea is a bit colder than the tropics.
Around the North East England the bottlenose dolphins are actually a resident species, with sightings throughout the year and since spring actually almost every single day. However these dolphins, like others cetaceans, love to travel up and down the coast, which is probably why we Ocean Conservationists have hardly seen them this season. And I got really eager and perhaps slightly impatient to see these dolphins. One day I simply had a good feeling about leaving the ship and going to the north pier of Tynemouth. And I got rewarded, I went to the pier and there they were. Probably around 20 passing the pier and some were foraging and other were showing off their acrobatics! I absolutely loved seeing them and also noticed that these dolphins really are quite chunky! If only I would see them like this from the ship!
I am not sure if it was the luck that the animal management college students from Myerscough college brought the luck, but a couple of days after my first proper encounter with these bottlenose dolphins, we saw them from the ship! I had just started my survey whilst we were still on the river Tyne, when I saw a splash between the pier of Tynemouth. At first I wasn’t sure if I really had seen a splash, was it my imagination? But as the weather was really nice, many passengers were on the observation deck, and slowly more and more people started seeing the splashes of jumping dolphins. Then the bottlenose dolphins noticed the ship and they all came towards us and started bow riding. The excitement of all the passengers and students was so heart-warming to see. Some passengers even said that this was the best experience of their holiday even though they were on their way home again! And the college students of Myerscough college got to see some wild dolphins during their trip to learn more about marine animals!
After the excitement of the dolphins, it was mostly me and some of the college students, stayed outside in the hope for some more sightings. We got to see around 12 harbour porpoises, and just as we were thinking of calling it a night as the sun was setting. A minke whale showed up in an absolute textbook surfacing sequence in front of the bow. Within 10 minutes we saw 3 minke whales which made that day of surveying absolutely amazing!
And the once, for us Ocean Conservationists, so elusive bottlenose dolphins showed their faces another time on my last crossing back to the Netherlands and this time Nina also got to enjoy these dolphins just outside of the piers and being attracted to the ship!
Let’s hope these sightings will stay as exciting in the coming months in the North Sea!
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