It was a minke whale, surrounded by harbour porpoises! The whale was feeding in the area, just like the other cetaceans, and so each time it popped up it was on a different side of the boat.

There were plenty of cormorants, fulmars and seagulls as well as some gannets. The gannets are always a brilliant sea bird to follow when looking for whales or dolphins as they are large, with bold markings and dive dramatically, and elegantly from about 30m to fish, so easy to spot.

It was a minke whale, surrounded by harbour porpoises! The whale was feeding in the area, just like the other cetaceans, and so each time it popped up it was on a different side of the boat.

Finding porpoises is always a good sign as it means there is food in the area, and the whales and dolphins are often hunting the same fish, or other fish in the food chain there. Because of that we hung around in the area for a little while hoping we’d find any signs a whale might be in the area, for instance like the footprints the pressure of their tail leaves on the water service.

It was wonderful watching the dolphins fish and play, there was a juvenile really going for it playing. It kept jumping out of the water, which was very entertaining to us, and it may well have been fun it it, but more importantly it was building it’s strength and skill for surviving as an adult.

We came across some lovely harbour porpoises, similar to small dolphins and in the same family as whales. They played near us for a little while before heading off to go about their porpoise day! Finding porpoises is always a good sign as it means there is food in the area, and the whales and dolphins are often hunting the same fish, or other fish in the food chain there.