Watching Tips.
(Links are underlined blue or red click on to follow.)
Now down to what I hope will be helpful Tips.
The only predictable thing about wild animals is the fact that they are unpredictable.
No sighting is ever guaranteed.
The one thing you need is patience and persistence.
You can improve the odds a little when it comes to Dolphin and Whales by taking into account the following;
Tides, Wind Direction, Sea Conditions, Location, Latest Sighting reports.
Take binoculars for a close up view and a note pad for joting down useful details, warm cloths and a flask of coffee or tea. Cliffs can be a lot colder than you might think.
Tide.
Most sightings seem to take place around Caithness during the rising tide, usually the 2-3 hours leading to the HW point or in the slack water 1-2 hours after.
Wind.
Caithness has two coasts North and East, you can get fantastic flat sea on one coast and large swells and a choppy surface on the other.
Sea Conditions.
The sea needs to have a swell of less than one meter and the surface need to be without white cresting.
You may see the larger cetaceans in a choppy sea but it will be a lucky sighting.
Latest Sightings.
Check the recent sightings list, it’s not unusual for cetaceans to revisit a good feeding area.
I saw 6 Minke Whales visit and feed off the coast at the Whaligoe steps 3 days running. In 2009 a juvenile Minke made repeated visits to feed at Lybster.
Location.
Look for a high point to observe the sea,10- 20 meters is ideal.
A good field of view is a must.
Binoculars and a note pad or sightings form.
Binoculars will help to identify what species you are looking at.
7x50 or 10x50 are ideal, they provide a good field of view and a reasonable magnification.
A sightings form can be down loaded from the Sea Watch Foundation web site.
http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/
How do you recognise a species?.
This is best done in stages.
Start with the dorsal fin, where is it located? Is it in the centre of the back? Or is it two thirds of the way down the back?
If it’s in the centre of the back it’s a Dolphin or Porpoise two thirds down back it's a Whale
Porpoise have a triangular Dorsal, Dolphins have a curved Dorsal.
The Pilot Whale and Killer Whale are a very large Dolphin species, apart from the male Killer Whale they have curved dorsal fins.
Then look to see what markings and colours you can see.
Try and estimate size, this can be very difficult without a size reference. (boats and marker buoys can help)
Make a note of the number of animals and if there are any calves or juveniles.
Calves when young will stick very close to the mothers tail stock.
Also note general direction of travel and the time.
Make a note of sea conditions and any sea birds that are about.
Large numbers of some types of bird seem to attract cetaceans, these seem to be the Shags and Guillemots.
On the other hand Whales feeding will attract Gulls, so always keep an eye open for gulls wheeling about the sky.
Remember cliffs can be dangerous, beware of Blow Holes from sea caves and never get close to the cliff edge.
You never know if you are standing on an insecure over hang.
What you can see and where.
Caithness is fortunate in that it has a fantastic coast with a vast variety of wild life.
Although this site is set up to record Cetaceans it was decided that Caithness Sea Watching would be a better description of what the site is about.
What can you see along our coast
Caithness receives visits from a variety of Dolphins and Whales, some more rare than others, the rare sightings are in yellow the very rare in red.
Minke Whale, Humpback Whale,Sperm Whale, FinWhale, BottlenoseWhale, Beluga,
Killer Whale, Long Finned Pilot Whale,
Bottlenose Dolphin, Risso’s Dolphin, Atlantic White-sided Dolphin,
White-beaked Dolphin, Common Dolphin, Striped Dolphin, and the humble
Harbour Porpoise.
Other animals of interest.
Seals
While you are on the coast you will also see Common Seals and Grey Seals.
These haul out at certain locations around the Caithness coast.
Brough. (Common seals) Ham (Common seals) Scarfskerry (Grey and Common)
Scotland Haven (Greys and Common) Gills Bay (Greys and Common)
Ackergill Pier beach (mostly Common) Sarclet Haven (Greys)
This last location The Bay of Sannick is not a regular haul out location but is worth a visit late August till mid October.
Access is via gate on left before you climb the hill to Duncansby Head Lighthouse.
Grey Seals gather here at high tide and indulge in play and sexual activities on the beach and in the surf.
You do need to get there when the high tide is around 7am.
This is to be sure you get there before the dog walkers scare away the seals.
Use stealth to approach the beach to avoid panicking the seals into the water.
Most Grey pups are born late October early November here in Caithness, but we do get a few early
arrivals.
Grey pups can turn up on any shore line around Caithness, but the majority are born on regular pupping beaches.
The biggest is at Thirle Door at Duncansby Head.
The Highland Rangers do take people on a guided tour of the pupping beaches in early November.
One word of warning when it comes to taking pictures of Grey seal pups.
Mothers leave their pups on the beach but keep an eye on them from the water.
If the pup is approached it can cause distress to the mother and may lead to abandonment.
No picture is worth the life of a pup.
If you want pictures of pups then use the right equipment and that will mean a good zoom lens.
Basking Shark.
The Basking Shark is being seen more often, most sightings are in the Thurso Bay area.
Otters.
Most otters are inclined to stick to river estuaries. They have been seen in some Havens and on beaches near small streams.
The Wick and Thurso River both have Otters near their estuaries.
Turtles.
Turtles have also been recorded, but these are very rare and are usually found dead on beaches or trapped in Creel pot lines.
Birds
There is also lots of sea bird to be seen nesting along the coast, probably the most popular of these is the Puffin.
The Highland Ranger Service do guided walks that will take you to some of the popular bird nesting areas.
It is also possible while you are wondering the cliffs in some quiet area you may well come across some deer.
We have the Large Red Deer and the smaller Roe Deer.
I have in the past had a few close encounters with Roe Deer on the cliffs at Lybster and at Scotlands Haven.
Areas of most sightings.
Lybster and Thurso Bay record the majority of cetacean sightings, this could be because I live in Lybster and Karen lives in Thurso. There are other places where cetaceans have been seen, these are;
Duncansby Head, Gills Bay, Scotlands Haven, Brough, Dunnet Head, Holborn Head, Trinkies at Wick, Sarclet, Thrumster, Whaligoe Steps at Ulbster, Latheron Wheel, Dunbeath, Sinclair Bay.
Tour Boats.
Tour boat operators are a good sourse of information if you want to know what is happening in the sea in the John O'Groats area. Thats where you will find me most Sundays chatting to the operators and enjoying a burger and a tea at Jeff's burger bar. (i'm the one with ketchup on his face wearing a camoflauge jacket and beanie) If you see me do say Hello!
There is 1 tourist boat operating wild life tours at John O’Groats, Killer Whales were seen on several occasions in 2011, that is the John O'Groats Ferry .
They go out and look at the seals and birds at he start of the season then go out to a large group of Harbour Porpoise that gather off Gills Bay in August through to September when the tours stop.(Porpoise stay until mid October)
There is also one tour boat operating from Wick Harbour, operated by Caithness Seacoast Ltd
They concentrate on exploring the Haven, Geo and bird nesting ledges on the East Coast, they can also visit coastal castles and lighthouses. During the 2 years of operation they have seen a number of cetacean. I'm informed they do have an all year operation, and have a lifting arm and sling for those with mobility issues.
Colin.