16 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 7 - Big Blue

I figured our final approach to Jan Mayen Island could be good for Cetaceans, so I set my alarm for a 04:00 start. I woke about 03:30 and decided to get up at that point, rather than wait for my alarm to re-wake me at 04:00 and disturb the rest of my cabin mates. I had a quick cup of tea and some biscuits for my first breakfast, before headed up to the bridge wing. I was surprised to find that Maurice had beaten me to the deck. Fortunately, I hadn't missed any Cetaceans. It wasn't long before we spotted our first sighting of two very distant Humpback Whales at 03:45. This was followed by our first two Beluga Whales, which came past a few minutes later. Unfortunately, I only saw the blow as I was looking for a dark body in the water. Not long after, Maurice found our first Blue Whale of the cruise at 04:20. Fortunately, a few of the other keen Dutch Birders had also joined us by that time to enjoy the sighting.

Blue Whale: The large pale bluish-grey body is a good feature to confirm this is a Blue Whale

Blue Whale: There is a bit more curvature in the top of the body compared to the straight top-side of a Fin Whale

Blue Whale: They have a tall blow. However, identifying Whales on their blows alone is unwise

Blue Whale

Blue Whale

Blue Whale: They have a small, dorsal fin which is dwarfed by the size of their body

Chloe had already shown us a Water Bear which was the smallest species we were to see on the cruise. During the Covid years, the longest Dinosaur to be identified was described. Supersaurus is longer than a Blue Whale at up to forty metres, compared to the thirty-three metres length of the largest Blue Whale ever killed in the Southern Oceans. However, their weight is estimated as a mere thirty-five to forty-four metric tons, compared to the one hundred and eighty metric tons for a Blue Whale. Therefore, considering the weight as well as the length, it's reasonable to say we were watching the largest animal that has ever been known to have populated the Earth.

I could always rely on the Dutch Birders, Jordy, Maurice and Laurens to be watching from the bridge wings

It wasn't even 05:00 and we still had an eventful three hour wait for breakfast.

6 Jun 26 - An Emergency Trip To North Wales

Unlike the Blog Post title, I'm writing this four months after the urgent need to head to North Wales. The forecast for the Sunday was for a strong June South Westerly and I headed to the Durlston seawatching hide. I arrived to find that local Birders Phil and Rob had beaten me to the hide and they confirmed there were a few Balearics in amongst the couple of hundred Manx Shearwaters that had already passed West. At this time of year, Manx Shearwaters are often passing in much smaller numbers along the Purbeck coast during the early morning or late evening. This was an impressive movement. It wasn't long before I had added my first Balearic Shearwaters to my Purbeck Year List. Later in the morning, we were joined by Ian and Andy. The Shearwater movement was still going as lunchtime approached by which time, I had seen nearly eight hundred Manx Shearwaters and fifteen Balearic Shearwaters: both of which were my highest Purbeck seawatch totals. Surprisingly, forty-three Common Terns also heading West were the only other species of note.

By late morning I was wondering about lunch, when Phil's phone pinged. He turned to me and showed me a photo of a dark morph Western Reef Heron and said North Wales. He had my full attention, until I turned to RBA for details. This new species for the UK was showing on the Foryd Bay, a stone's throw from Caernarfon. I knew it would be a six to seven hour drive, plus I would need fifteen minutes to walk back to the car. I rang Pete Moore and gave him the heads up that he would be missing his Sunday evening dinner as I would be picking him up in about an hour. He agreed that it was a meal worth missing. I dashed home, had a quick lunch whilst making hot drinks for the journey and picked Pete up about 12:30. It all started badly when we hit a really bad traffic jam in nearly Poole. It seems all the locals had thought the crappy weather was perfect for a lunchtime shopping trip to the large Tesco store. Fortunately, the roads weren't too bad after that for the rest of the journey.

Western Reef Heron

As we got close, Pete was chatting to his pal Bradders to fine tune the local directions to where the Western Reef Heron was showing. It was down a narrow lane where a few cars were trying to leave. Being Birders most appreciated the urgency of our arrival and kindly pulled over to allow me through. I was mentally noting each of the limited number of potential parking spaces as we got closer. In the end, I managed to pull up right next to the crowd where Bradders was. Frustratingly, we got out to the news it had just flown up the estuary and out of sight. Bradders was able to show us roughly where he thought it had ended up and within a few minutes we were heading back down the narrow lane. After ten minutes of winding roads, we reached the estuary again and found three cars of Birders looking. I stopped and after a seven point on the narrow road, the car was ready for a quick return, in case the Western Reef Heron reappeared at its original location. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Heron, after searching all the obvious gullies on the low tide. Bradders appeared and briefly pulled over to say he thought it had gone further up the estuary and he would move on and ring it they relocated it. A few minutes later, Pete's phone rang, which was good news, apart from I needed another five-point turn of the car. We quickly joined Bradders and a couple of other cars of Birders enjoying the Western Reef Heron. The other good news was it was a lot closer than where they had been watching it at the previous site.

Western Reef Heron

I finally returned home about 03:30 the following morning. At least I could have a lazy day, before the packing and preparation for the three week trip from Holland to and around Svalbard and my early hours of the morning departure for Heathrow on the Wednesday. It was good to finally connect with a pukka-looking Western Reef Heron, having chased a couple of claimed white individuals in Devon and Christchurch back in the 1980s, both of which were later reidentified as Little Egrets.

Western Reef Heron: Finally, it flew to the far side of the estuary which was a sign we needed to find a chippy, before starting on the three hundred and fifty mile slog back to Swanage

15 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 6 - New Cetaceans For The Trip

After a reasonable night's sleep, I was ready for a second full day at sea as we sailed from the Shetland Islands to Jan Mayen Island. I spent a lot of the day on the deck and it proved worthwhile for Cetaceans. The first species seen was a Northern Bottlenose Whale, but frustratingly I didn't manage to get any photos of it.

We were still sailing NNW towards Jan Mayen Island

The next Cetaceans seen were a couple of Humpback Whales, which we thought was a female with a calf.

Humpback Whale: A Humpback Whale just after it had blown

Humpback Whale: The distinctive dorsal fin with the second Humpback Whale showing through the water

Humpback Whale: A better view of the dorsal fin

Humpback Whale: Finally, I managed to get a photo of both of them

Humpback Whale: Humpback Whales have a distinctive dorsal fin

Towards the end of lunch there was a broadcast that the Plancius was stopping as one of the expedition staff had seen a Fin Whale during their bridge watch. I had just finished eating and so it was time to head back up to the bridge wings.

Fin Whale: Note, the reasonable-sized dorsal fin and long relatively-flat body

Fin Whale: A close crop of the dorsal fin showing it is has a smooth-curved leading edge confirming the identification

Fin Whale: This photo shows that it has a broad body

Fin Whale

Fin Whale: Another photo showing the broad body

We saw few Bird species during the day. Virtually, all the Birds I saw were Fulmars, but there was also a Long-tailed Skua, four Kittiwakes and the first two Brunnich's Guillemots. I expected to see lots of the latter species during the trip, however, it was good to see the first ones, especially as the only one I had previously seen was literally on its last legs and two days later, it was found dead in Anstruther harbour, on the Scottish East Coast.

Brunnich's Guillemot: They are short-bodied than Guillemots, are blacker-coloured and have a broader-based bill

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Brunnich's Guillemot

Later in the day, I saw another couple of Humpback Whales. In the early evening, I saw a brief blow, but never saw the Whale. Looking at photos that others took, it was another Fin Whale. I decided to knock the watch on head at 21:30 and get an early night. We were due to have a few hours on the following morning as we approached Jan Mayen Island and I was hoping this would be more productive for Cetaceans. I will cover this final approach in the next Blog Post.

22 Jul 26 - Summertime Snacks

The Dorset Wildlife Trust suspended feeding Birds during the breeding season on Brownsea, in line with the latest RSPB guidance. They started putting out peanuts again in mid-July. This provided an excuse for some more Red Squirrel photos on the Blog.

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

14 Jun 26 - From The Biggest To The Smallest Expedition Cruise Day 5 - Quality Over Quantity

It had been worth being on the port bridge wing on the first morning at sea after leaving the Shetland Islands. We were heading for Jan Mayen Island. About 10:35, we had prolonged close views of a second large pod of Long-finned Pilot Whales and some shorter views of a small pod of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. Only the passengers on deck had a chance to see the Atlantic White-sided Dolphins, as we had passed them before the Plancius could stop. Typically, the Long-finned Pilot Whales were in an extended pod and we stayed with part of the pod for about fifteen to twenty minutes, which allowed all the passengers to get on deck to see them. Just over thirty minutes after Expedition Leader Jan decided we should move on, there was a shout from the starboard bridge wing for a pod of five Orca. We quickly left the port bridge wing.

Orca: Type 1. This high dorsal fin leaves no doubt that this was an Orca pod

Orca: Type 1. In the background, is one of about forty Storm-petrels that were flying around the Orca pod

Orca taxonomy is complex. Currently, there is one species of Orca. Normally, the next sub-classification is subspecies. However, in Orca taxonomy, it is Ecotypes. There are about ten different Ecotypes. It's possible that some of these Ecotypes will be split into new species or subspecies in the future. Where there are more than one Ecotype in a region of the world, it is understood that individuals from different Ecotypes will not mix. This is probably down to the extended relationships within a pod, but food and diet are also factors that help to separate the Ecotypes.

Orca: Type 1. One of the features of Type 1 Orca is that the white patch on the head is horizontal, whereas it curves down at the rear in Type 2 Orca

Orca: Type 1. The same individual with its saddle patch just coming into view

In the North Atlantic there are thought to be two Ecotypes: Type 1 and Type 2. I presume I saw Type 2 Ecotypes on the Atlantic Odyssey in Spring 18 between St Helena and Ascension Island in the Northern part of the South Atlantic. I had a second sighting between Ascension Island and Cape Verde in the North Atlantic. Type 2 Ecotypes are thought to be Cetacean hunters. There was one lunchtime on the Atlantic Odyssey, when I narrowly missed another Orca sighting when a small party of Short-finned Pilot Whales appeared close to the Plancius. I saw two pass down the port side. A calf passed down the starboard side, followed closely by an Orca which successfully killed it. I still think I chose the correct side of the ship to view from, albeit it would have been a memorable sighting to have seen the Orca and the unfortunate calf.

Orca: Type 1

Type 1 Orca are found further North in cold waters of the Atlantic. They are smaller than the Type 2 Orca and only grow to about six and a half metres in length, whereas, Type 2 Orca can be an extra two metres in length.

Orca: Type 1 with another photo-bombing Storm-petrel

Most of the pods that appear in waters off the Scottish Islands, the Shetland Islands, mainland Scotland and occasionally the North East of English are Type 1 Orca. They mainly feed on Herring and Mackerel, but also they take Seals and a few Sharks. The well-known male Orca, John Coe and Aquarius, are the last surviving Type 2 Orca from the West Coast community. Being a different Ecotype, they are sadly not likely to find a mate again.

Orca: Type 1. More of the pod appeared

Orca: Type 1. Better views of the middle individual

Orca: Type 1. Males have the highest dorsal fin, which can reach up to two metres in the largest Ecotypes, but the dorsal fin will be shorter for the smaller Type 1 Ecotypes

Orca: Type 1. Orca pods are matriarchal. Female Orca are one of the few animals that are known to go through a menopause period in their life and after that, they could lead the pod for many more years

Orca: Type 1. A better view of the near individual

Orca: Type 1. This individual has a distinctive notch near the top of the rear edge of dorsal fin

Orca: Type 1

Orca: Type 1. Orca were number eight on my top twelve target species list

I was on deck for the rest of the day, barring meal and hot drink breaks. I saw another pod of two Long-finned Pilot Whales, a mixed pod of two Long-finned Pilot Whales and two Bottlenose Dolphins and a pod of three Orca. All these pods were distant and I didn't manage to get any photos of them. The best of the Birds were three Bonxies, an Arctic Skua and the large flock of Storm Petrels around this Orca pod. I stayed on deck until 21:50 when I decided it was time to end the watch for the day, after several hours of Cetacean-free observation.

Orca: Type 1. Finally, a couple of phot-bombing Fulmars