LATEST
NEWS:
17
September 2016
For
the tenth time this year the famous Killer
Whale, Orcinus orca, named 'John
Coe" was spotted by local fishermen, Gordon
Mackinnon and Ritchie Simpson, off Canna
and to the west of Skye,
Inner
Hebrides, Scotland. Interestingly, all other confirmed reports of John
Coe in 2016
have been of him alone, whereas Gordon’s
photos clearly show him with another male.
The
West
Coast Community of Killer Whales
consists of four males and four females, and they are not known to interact
with any other Orca
populations in the north-east Atlantic.
15
-16 September 2016
Photographs
by Craig Nisbet
A large
cetacean
was spotted struggling around the rocks at Tur Ness, Noss,
in the Shetlands in the evening. British
Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were
alerted, but sadly a juvenile Fin Whale,
Balaenoptera
physalus, was discovered belly up the following
morning. It was estimated to be about 11 metres long as the dead body floated
back and forth across Nesti Voe.
A
Blue
Runner, Caranx
chrysos, was caught on road and line on the boat "Emma
Kate" fishing for Mackerel
out of Padstow, Cornwall.
This
is a southern species of fish rarely (less than once a year) caught in
British seas. This shoaling fish is
unusual
north of Portugal.
Blue
Runner
Photograph
by the Marine
Management Organisation (MMO)
Another
Blue
Runner was landed at Brixham,
south Devon, by Dave Brown
from his small boat "Thankful".
BMLSS
Report 2001
14
September 2016
A
Silver Dory (=Sailfin
Dory),
Zenopsis
conchifer, was landed at Cawsand,
Cornwall. This is a deepwater fish found in
more southern seas are only rarely accidentally caught around the British
Isles and even more rarely reported.
BMLSS
Sailfin Dory
4 September
2016
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A
most astonishing discovery of a tropical sea bird called the Red-footed
Booby,
Sula
sula, was found on St.
Leonards Beach, East Sussex. Gail Cohen
found the underweight bird alive and the East
Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) were called to
rehabilitate the lost bird to RSPCA
Mallydams Wood at Hastings.
This
bird has not been seen in Britain before and it is still a mystery of how
the bird arrived from its normal tropical home.
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Killer
Whales in West Out
Skerries
Photographs
by Ivan Reid
flickr
3
September 2016
An
early morning walk on a windy Freshwater
East Beach, Pembrokeshire, SW Wales, produced a surprise discovery
of a dead Atlantic Blue Marlin, Makaira
nigricans, in water shallow enough for a collie dog to try and
haul the large fish inshore. Discoverers John
and Helen Swancott
estimated the fish to be
2.4 metres long. This extraordinary find was the first record for the UK.
BMLSS
Swordfish & Marlins
28
August 2016
Killer Whale and Calf
at
Whalsay, Shetland
Photographs
by Ivan Reid
flickr
A small
pod of Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, comprised of two adults and
three calves, visited the west coast of Whalsay,
Shetland, and put on an extraordinary display in calm weather.
Killer
Whales at Whalsay (Gallery)
Shetland
Orca News Report
Shetland
Orca Sightings facebook
August
2016
A
huge 7.65 kg (17 lb) European
Lobster,
Homarus gammarus (= H. vulgaris),
was captured by free diver Joe Pike
off Lannacombe
Beach, south Devon. It was captured and taken to the National
Aquarium at Plymouth for further captive
study. It is the second largest European
Lobster on record as a confirmed weight although
from the size and weights of remains, even larger Lobsters
could be extant.
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19
August 2016
The
asymmetric coloration of the baleen plates confirm that the baleen whale
which stranded at Shankill
in County Dublin, Ireland,
was a juvenile female Fin Whale, Balaenoptera
physalus.
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11
August 2016
Two
divers at the Zeeland
Bridge discovered a Sponge Crab,
Dromia
personata, for the very first time
in murky seas off the Netherlands. The Wolkrab
(Dutch
name) takes its name from a brown-red, velvety hair. With its wide and
high rising carapace and with powerful claws, it makes a strong impression.
The bare ends of the claws (chelae)
are sometimes coloured like pink nail polish and contrast sharply with
the rest of the body. It is a southern species with its northerly point
of distribution previously in the seas off Belgium and the Thames estuary
where it is uncommon. It rear legs can hold a sponge
in place for camouflage.
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5
August 2016
.jpg)
"John Coe" Killer Whale
off the Hebrides
Photograph
by Basking
Shark Scotland
facebook
The
famous Killer Whale, Orcinus orca,
named 'John Coe"
was spotted off the Hebrides. It is the largest bull
Orca
in the few remaining members of the 'Hebridean
Community' of Killer Whales (or Western
Community): a
community living of the western seas of Ireland and Scotland.
It is rarely seen but was spotted off Ireland on 27
June 2016.
John
Coe (Irish Sightings Map)
1
August 2016
A
Humpback Whale, Megaptera
novaengliae, was spotted by Lee
Watson, (a volunteer with British
Divers Marine Life Rescue, BDMLR), "lunge
feeding" (swimming through a shoal of small fish with its huge mouth
wide open), bursting through the surface of the water off Newburgh,
Aberdeenshire,
east coast of Scotland. .
31
July 2016
Anglers
caught a huge Thresher
Shark, Alopias vulpinus,
estimated from measurements to weigh 167 kg (368 lb), from a boat
off the coast of Cornwall.
BMLSS
Thresher Sharks
29
July 2016
About
fifty Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus
maximus, including an aggregation of thirty
sharks, were seen off Scotland, between Coll
and Tiree in the Inner
Hebrides.
July
2016
For
a majestic month the residents of the Shetland
Isles enjoyed views of several (maybe four) pods of the Northern
Isles Community of Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, roaming up and down the rocky
coasts of the archipelago, mainly seen from the east shores of Mainland,
but nowhere were they predictable, seen coming close inshore under the
cliffs and seen feeding on shoals of fish,
ducks,
seals
and a Porpoise.
Shetland
Wildlife Orca Gallery
27
July 2016
A
pod of Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, were spotted attacking a Porpoise
100 metres off Rerwick, South Shetland.
26
July 2016
A
pod of Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, including two mothers with their
calves, were seen very close inshore off
Levenwick,
on the east side of South
Mainland,
Shetland.
24
July 2016
Orca in Shallow Water
Photographs
by Anne Rose (with Kristian
Cooper)
Click
on the image
for the video
We
encountered this small pod of Killer Whales,
Orcinus
orca, at the end of our paddle
around Fethaland,
North
Roe, Shetland.
A
group of over 20 Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, were spotted swimming NSE
of North Roe
in the Shetlands (North
Mainland) by Hans
Verdaat during the Small
Cetacean Abundance in European Atlantic and North Sea - Aerial Survey
(July 2016: SCANS-III
team IV).
There
appears
to be at least three pods, possibly four, seen this year around the Shetland
Isles. These seem to all be part of the Northern
Isles Community. Some watchers were lucky that the Orcas came close
in to the rocky shores actively hunting for seals.
Scottish
Orca ID List
Sea
Watch Shetland Sightings News
A
pod of five White-beaked Dolphins,
Lagenorhyncus
albirostris, were seen bow-riding with
a yacht four miles off Downderry
in south Cornwall. This species is the more
unusual off the smaller cetaceans
only occasionally reported during the summer in the English Channel off
Cornwall.
Sea
Watch Sightings (SW)
21
July 2016
Killer
Whale
Photographs
by Craig Nisbet
A
pod of Killer Whales, Orcinus orca,
swam
close inshore at Gulberwick
in the Shetlands (map)
(east of the Mainland)
and killed two Common Seals, Phoca
vitulina,
with visible blood on the surface. There were three more seals
that managed to avoid predation by hiding behind rocks while the female
Orcas
swam by repeatedly trying to figure out how to get at them. A truly epic
experience!
Click
on the picture
for the video.
17
July 2016
A
two metres long Leatherback Turtle,
Dermochelys
coriacea, was seen and photographed
five miles off Cornwall.
BMLSS
Turtles
10
July 2016
Young
Stranded Sperm
Whale
Photograph
by Nicholas Pugliese
A young
Sperm
Whale,
Physeter
macrocephalus, washed ashore alive
at the Penhale
end of Perranporth
beach, north Cornwall. At 13 metres long, this female
youngster was lying on its side when discovered on the falling afternoon
spring tide and because she was out of the water
for so long she will have internal injuries and, even if the rescuers could
refloat the stricken whale, it would be unlikely she would survive. The
whale stopped breathing and died on the sandy beach in the afternoon.
"Globally,
segregation exists between male and female sperm whales, including in North
Atlantic populations, with the matriarchal pods containing females normally
resident in temperate to tropical waters much further south of the British
Isles, whereas males generally travel in more temperate waters. We have
historically only ever had juvenile/subadult male sperm whale strandings
in the UK and this is the first confirmed female sperm whale to be recorded
stranded in the UK, since routine collection of strandings data by the
Natural History Museum began in 1913,
illustrating the unusual nature of this stranding event. This was also
only the sixth sperm whale to be recorded stranded in Cornwall in this
same 100+ year period."
BMLSS
Cetacea: Index to Reports
Killer Whales
Photograph
by Jodie Sutherland
A pod
of seven or eight Killer Whales, Orcinus
orca, was spotted swimming through Mousa
Sound, (east coast South
Mainland)
of the Shetland Isles. The pod appeared to have included a young Orca.
But the one with a floppy fin was not seen.
More
Images (by Mary Stevenson)
9
July 2016
Two Killer Whales, north
Minch, Shetland Isles
heading south past the
Bard towards Mousa
Photographs
by Ryan Leith
Northern
Isles Community that moves between Iceland and Scotland to hunt
and raise young.
One
of the Killer Whales, Orcinus orca,
has a floppy dorsal fin (flopped towards the right). An Orca
with
a same sided floppy fin was seen last
year.
However,
this may not be the same whale as at least two with floppy fins have been
reported in the same community. The Iceland whale watchers have discovered
four with floppy fins.
Floppy
Fin Report by Vivian
Clark
facebook
Shetland
Orca Sightings facebook
Shetland
Killer Whales
(by
Hugh Harrop)
flickr
Click
on the image for larger photographs
BMLSS
Cetacea
British
Marine Life News 2012
BMLSS
Oil Disasters page
