2020 Vision....plus Gordon Buchanan trips

July was an eventful period for Sea Life Surveys with 2020 vision joining us for a week to try and capture the best environmental images and video footage around our research patch off the north end of Mull.

We also had wildlife cameraman and presenter Gordon Buchannan joining us on a couple of special Whale Watching trips. Along with the general day to day wildlife trips we had more great encounters as the season really is in full swing.

Basking Shark, Photo by Alex Mustard

2020 Vision is a multimedia project that communicates the link between peoples well being and the restoration of the natural systems. Their main aim is to raise the awareness of wildlife and their ecosystems and to help people understand the importance of them and the value they have to us.

There are 20 photographers involved and they have chosen 20 assignments. A decade from now in 2020 a new generation of decision makers will face the legacy of things we do today. So 2020 vision is exactly that: a vision for 2020. A call of action to restore Britians battered ecosystems over the next decade.

Alex Mustard joined us for the week as one of the 2020 Cameramen and he is an underwater photographer and category winner in both the wildlife photographer of the year and the British Wildlife photography awards. With a PhD in Marine Biology, much of his photography is driven by his knowledge of marine wildlife and his passion for the marine environment. It was great to have Alex joining us for the week and here is a couple of his fantastic photos he captured.

Two Basking sharks - Photo by Mark Harding

Photo by 2020 photographer Chris Gomersall

A fantastic encounter with 2020 photographer Chris Gomersall on board. We were coming to the end of a seven hour trip and approaching Ardmore we spotted splashing in the distance, as we got closer we realised it was 8 Bottlenose Dolphins displaying really well. We quickly boarded the RIB tender and Chris and I circled Sula Beag while the Dolphins were bow riding. Chris managed to get a great all round photo (above) with a Dolphin breaching while all the passengers on board were admiring the spectacle.

The Scottish Bottlenose Dolphin population averaging 3.8 meters in length are larger than their counterparts worldwide. They weigh around 400kg when fully grown. Older animals often have scars and teeth marks inflicted by other Dolphins and their life span is around 20-30 years.

Minke Whale surfacing infront of a raft of Manx Shearwaters

Its disturbing to know that not too far from our waters to the north whales are still getting removed by commercial whaling. Iceland and Norway still have a quota on hunting whales for reasons such as fish bait and research. In the peak of the whaling industry Minke whales were mainly ignored because of their smaller size they didn't appeal to the whalers as they focused on the larger great whale species. Blue and Fin Whales were primarily hunted but Humpback and Sei whales were also included. However, prior to 1914 Icelanders did not hunt Minke whales as superstition held that Minke whales were sent by God as protectors.

Gordon Buchanan wearing the SLS guide jacket with pride

A team photo with Gordon, the Crew and guests on 24/07/11

On the 24th and 31st of the month we had two special eight hour trips with Gordon Buchanan on board to entertain the passengers. On the first trip we had nice sunshine with a bit of chop in the water and we headed out to Coll and the Cairns of Coll . We picked up Porpoise on the way over and also a pair of Great Skuas before we landed at the Carins of Coll for lunch. Gordon got in with the seals to do some underwater filming and put the footage on his laptop to show everyone afterwards on board Sula Beag. We didnt pick up a whale in the 2nd half unfortunately but it was a great trip all around with Gordon being simply superb host whilst we all enjoyed the fantastic sunshine.

In the second trip the conditions were certainly challenging to find wildlife as the strong wind restricted the grounds we could cover. It was quiet on the wildlife front but again was a good trip and it was fantastic to have Gordon on board again, thank you Gordon, thanks to you and all the folk that joined us we helped to raise over £800 for the vital local charity the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust.

White Tail Sea Eagle....

Sooty Shearwater

One of the beauties of bird watching is finding rareties that crop up on migration normally on either end of the breeding season. The excitement of seeing new species as well as finding out about the journey they would have taken to arrive here always adds to the fascination. The picture above shows a Sooty Shearwater sat in amoungst a raft of Manx shearwaters and the Sooty is a rare bird which breeds in the soutern hemisphere and travels up to the northern hemisphere in its winter range. This is when rare birds can appear off the British isles depending on the weather conditions and wind direction. The Sooty Shearwater is slightly larger than the Manx and is all dark with silver underwing flashes and we came across this bird on one of our trips!

Minke whale surfacing...

Ben Hiant with a Calmac ferry heading west

Ben Hiant is the highest peak on Ardnamurchan at just over 500 meters. We pass the beautiful mountain on every trip and the lava plateaus on the south side light up an almost surreal shade of green. Ben Hiant is actually a failed Volcano, as simple as it sounds, it had a lot of volcanic pressure and attempted to erupt but never quite made it! Looking at the mountain from certain angles makes it quite clear, you can see evidence of a crater rim at the top. It is a lovely walk to tackle and fantastic views on top in all directions especially in to the western highlands. The Kilchoan ferry from Tobermory makes it easy to access Ardnamurchan from Mull and explore the wild beauty across there.

Golden Ringed Dragonfly

This time of year is great for Dragonflies as they only appear for a few months of the year its good to make the most of these fantastic creatures. Dragonflies have been around for 300 million years! One prehistoric fossil had a wingspan of 2 1/2 feet! Today the largest Dragonfly is found in Costa Rica and has a wingspan of 7 1/2 inches.

Some amazing facts about Dragonflies: -

- Dragonfly eyes contain up to 30,00 individual lenses, Human eyes only have one.

- Very skilled and excellent fliers they can loop the loop, hover and fly backwards.

- The record speed for a dragonfly is 36 mph!

- Dragonfly Nymphs ( the first stage after hatching) live in the water for about a year.

- After leaving the water and becoming flying insects they only live for about a month

- Their natural predators are birds.

Isle of Mull is great for Dragonflies with the rich array of habitats. The more common species on the island are Common Hawker, Golden Ringed Dragonfly (above), Four Spotted Chaser and Common and Black Darter.

Basking Shark

White Tailed Sea Eagle

There are reports in the Lake District that Cormorants are being blamed for destroying fish stocks. Anglers fear an invasion of Cormorants throughout Cumbria are eating too many fish from the regions fresh water lakes. Could the reintroduction of the White-Tailed Eagle resolve the problem faced by anglers in Cumbria? Observations show a significant increase in the number of Cormorants in Cumbria over the past three years.

How important are Predators to an ecosystem?? Predators dictate all the other life in their particular niche. A prime example is the Wolf and the Yellowstone national park where the Wolf had been removed from the area in the past so there was no natural predators. Grazers like Elk and Deer increased at an alarming unbalanced rate and also with no predators to fear they patrolled down to the lower ground. There they over grazed large areas of young trees and habitats and therefore taking away a large number of potential nest sights for birds and other animals. With the introduction of Wolves again to the national park it has created a healthy balance to all the grazers and other animals in the ecosystem. The Elk and Deer are more evenly and scarcely spread out creating a lot more room for trees and shrubs to grow providing a large number of habitats. Also the Wolves provide food for other species like Ravens, Eagles, Bears and Magpies feeding off the carcases off a wolf kill.

White Tailed Eagle catching a fish in Loch Na Keal

Short Eared Owl

The Short Eared Owl is a great bird to look out when you are on Mull. Their habitat is open grassland and heather which provides fantastic hunting and breeding grounds. Voles are their favourite food source and they nest on the ground only in thick vegetation or heather. They quite often hunt in the day in breeding season as they require more food source to feed chicks, so the you can get some great sightings. When they are on the nest, camouflage is vital and their plumage blends in very well with the surroundings. Their only problem is their bright yellow eyes which can give the game away and makes them easier to spot.

After the breeding season in August Short Eared Owls can migrate across the north sea hundreds of miles to reach Scandinavia and spend the off season there before returning to British moors to breed next spring.

Cheif Guide and Number 2.......

Thanks for reading everyone the next blog post will include all the happenings from the peak time on Mull and its Wildlife during August. Sightings and photos from our trips will be included along with other encounters from around the island and beyond......Wildlife rules!

Ewan

Wildlife Guide

The Best of British Marine Wildlife...........

The last few weeks on our trips we have experienced some of the best that British wildlife has to offer. Amazing marine life as well as superb bird activity. Some great trips during July with every one being unique with something different to offer. That is the beauty of Wildlife being so unpredictable and ever changing with something new with every adventure. Other industries can be predictable in a way such as TV and Film but when it comes to wildlife you can never call what is going to happen next as you could be watching Puffins out at sea and then suddenly a Basking Shark could breach out of nowhere!

Common Dolphin associating with boat....

Sunset at Cairns of Coll

Another great thing about wildlife and nature is that we are all involved in it and can all play a part. If you have a plot of land or a garden great or small then you can make a big contribution to your local wildlife. Wildlife requires two main things, somewhere safe to breed and also an area to forage and feed throughout the year. Creating some rougher areas for breeding, hunting and foraging spaces for an array of species will help promote the wildlife as well as providing you with huge rewards from watching wildlife flourish thanks to your management.

Letting your lawn grow to a bit of length helps promote wild flowers that an array of invertebrates can take advantage of. It also provides egg laying and over wintering of Caterpillars and Leather Jackets. The wealth of insects the wild grass attracts in turn will bring in a good variation of garden birds to go with it! Depending on the size of land and also the environment it could also provide great cover for rodents and you never know that could easily bring in Owls to your garden! Fantastic!

A water feature with different depths will contribute in a huge way to your local wildlife. Shallow waters create an area for bathing and drinking birds as well as an area for emerging Dragonflies and for Amphibians to lay eggs. The deeper waters help aquatic insects survive cold spells and also good places to watch newts swimming. A whole new ecosystem is created when you provide a garden pond!

Ringtail Harrier

A rare Sei Whale has been spotted in Scottish waters. It was spotted by a paramedic from an aeroplane between the islands of Islay and Gigha. Adult Sei Whales can reach 20-30 tonnes and up to 19.5 meters in length. At first it was considered a Fin whale which has been recorded more in these waters but when studying the dorsal fin closer they noticed it was quite large and curved backwards with both features fitting the Sei Whale. It is thought that there are only about 13,000 whales left in the northern hemisphere with their numbers affected by whaling and fishing.

Kittiwake

The Scottish Natural Heritage has introduced six new Golden Eagle protection areas in the country. A fantastic move classified by the Scottish ministers to help protect these unbelievable birds for the future. Their numbers have been stable in the last couple of decades but their range has decreased from the eastern parts of Scotland and they are still threatened by poisoning and persecution to protect grouse for shooting. The Golden Eagle is a symbol for the country and an icon to Scotland and must be protected at all costs. It's a shame the powers in England don't have the same mentality regarding the majestic Hen Harrier.

Northern Fulmar - The most northerly bird along with Snow Bunting and Black-legged Kittiwake have all been seen at the North Pole itself

Great Skua!

Artic Tern

Common Sandpiper, Ardmore

The Blue whale is the largest animal to ever have lived on our planet, here are some fascinating facts.....

- Can grow up to 33m in length

- They can consume their own body mass in water in just one gulp

- Some of their blood vessels are so good that a human could swim down them

- Their heart is the size of a small car

- Their tongue the weight of an Elephant

- Their tail fluke the width of a small air craft

- Their calves as soon as their born are already among the largest living things on the planet

Blue Whale numbers could be as low as 10,000 and they could be at the stage called 'the point of no return' as their breeding rate is so slow that the natural rate that Blue Whales die along with human interference like Whaling and boat traffic that they could not keep up with that rate loss through producing new young. One thing that doesn't help their chances is that a lot of their sightings have been solitary behaviour and their populations are quite wide spread meaning that the whales might not meet each other enough to increase the chances of reproduction. Humpback Whales on the other hand have strong bonds and can be seen in larger groups and that is one of the reasons that they have made a successful recovery over the last few decades.

There is a Blue Whale skeleton being displayed on the Isle of Coll. It was washed up there in the 19th century and shows that these great whales used to range in these areas before the huge impact of whaling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries removing more than 360,000 Blue Whales from the oceans.

Common Dolphin approaching the boat....

good bit of Air time!

A Local hero's Treshnish farm has won RSPBs nature of farming award for Argyll and is among the finalists for the best wildlife friendly farm in Great Britain. The award celebrates farmers who invest significant effort, dedication and care to run a farm that creates fantastic wildlife habitats – and is economically viable, the best of all worlds.

Locked!

More Pilot Whales put themselves into danger this month as a pod of 60 are reported near Kyle of Durness and more than 20 have already died when entering the deep sea loch. At low tide they became stranded. In May around 60 whales appeared in Loch Carnan, South Uist although they left the loch as one became stranded and died of infection.

The Whales have a big downfall in their evolution as they have such strong social bonds and when one whale becomes ill and has an infection it is thought that when the struggling whale tries to beach itself the healthy whales will follow and end up getting into trouble themselves. It could also be to do with following food source into the area and then getting into problems in the shallower waters.

Basking Shark

The Basking sharks that visit our waters in the summer season were hunted here up until the 1980s. They were hunted for their liver oil as well as their cartilage and fins. Despite the majority of Basking Shark fisheries closing they are still hunted in some areas mainly in Asia. Their liver Oil was used for a lubricant for machinery as well as for tanning leather and also lamp oil. Basking Sharks fins because of their large size are valuable in the Shark Fin soup market in Asia where it is the main ingredient in a tasteless broth containing bland and chewy fin pieces. Flavouring has to be added to make it more tasteful.

The brutality in the way the Sharks are caught is nothing short of disgusting as their fins are sliced off and then thrown back into the ocean still alive where they sink to the bottom of the seabed and end up as bait for the primary consumers in the oceans ecosystem.

The Apex Predators of the oceans ending up as food source for the primary species is exactly the same as cutting off all of a Lion's limbs and leaving it out on the plains for scavengers to feed off.

- Sharks have existed on this planet for 450 million years, surviving 5 major extinctions.

- 100 million sharks are killed each year (that works out to more than 10,000 per hour).

- Vast numbers of sharks die incidentally as "by catch," killed needlessly and thrown overboard unused by fishermen using nets and long lines to catch other types of fish. One report estimates 50 million are caught and killed this way.

- As many as 73 million are killed by the shark finning industry.

- It is estimated that 90 percent of all large sharks have been wiped out, and 93-99 percent of all large sharks off the east coast of North America are gone (tiger sharks, bull sharks, hammerhead sharks, etc.).

Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan is a true 'wild west' part of Great Britain. It is home to some of the UK's rarest mammals including the Scottish Wildcat and also the Pine Marten. Their range has been cut right down to these remote areas of Great Britian through habitat loss and persecution. An introduction of Pine Martens in Dumfries and Galloway in the Galloway National Park is helping promote the species in new areas.

A Pine Marten introduction in areas of North England will again promote this fantastic animal into its old range and also play a big part in helping decrease Grey Squirrel populations which are working their way up the country.

Sand eel in Bill

Ardnamurchan Point sun set to the north

We have a Killer Whale population off the west coast of Scotland which is just exciting to know we have our very own resident Orcas! There is a west coast community population of 9 and they are known to be unique compared to nearby populations as they are greater in size and they are also known to feed on different available food sources like cetaceans such as Porpoise and Dolphins. The north Atlantic community of Orcas are known to feed on Herring, Mackerel and Seal pups at the breeding time of the year when they time it right to take advantage of newly born pups off Orkney and the Shetland Isles. The west coast community are thought to be more closely related to a population of Orcas in Antarctica. Sadly the future is uncertain for our west coast community as they are so isolated that there is not a great chance of them meeting other Orca communities to breed and keep the population going. Surely they have to be one of the biggest wildlife encounters on the planet and you can get them off the British Isles.

Otter feeding

Eurasian otter....

Otters are as well adapted to life in the British Isles as they are at home as much in the water as they are on land. Also they are becoming more widespread on coastal areas as well as inland in fresh water locations. Their increase in population is helping with the demise of the invasive American Mink which has increased its range to all of the British Isles including most of the 800 Scottish islands.

One of the most common questions I get asked when working for Sea Life Surveys is 'Where is the best place to see Otters?' And the answer to this is that there are always locations that will give you a better chance of coming across the mammals but they cover such a large range to feed that it can be difficult. In general its more to do with your own behaviour and commitment. Things like making sure you are downwind from the area you are focusing on and also keeping very still as their eyesight is poor but they pick up any different changes in the landscape. The main thing is to commit your self for a period of time and be patient and the rewards can be huge. The right place at the right time and also a bit of luck and you will always give your self a chance!

Sunrise in Tobermory harbour

Minke by Coll

Minke arching back and going down for a deep dive

Common Dolphin seen a number of times throughout June / July

Photography by Ewan Miles

To wrap it up 5 Wildlife Facts.....

• Petrels and Shearwaters can smell food source from up to 10 miles away if the conditions are right
• Atlantic Puffins can hold a large number of Sand eels in their bill at any one time with the record counted being 81
• A Spiders silk is five times stronger than steel and 30 times more stretchy than nylon
• Sharks do not have a single bone in their body; Its skeleton is made up of Cartilage
• Some colony Bee's can get drunk off cider and when they return to their hive there is a Bee doormen that remove them from the colony for being in a bad way

Thanks for reading :-)

Ewan

Wildlife Guide

Photos of the 2011 season so far...

We have uploaded two new albums to our Facebook page, please follow these two links to get directly there -

2011 Basking Shark Photography Trip - By Mark Harding

Small selection of our photos from the 2011 season so far

Enjoy folks ;-)

Top UK nature photographers coming to an ecosystem near you!

What are ecosystems and why are they so important to us? That’s what 2020VISION, the UK’s largest conservation photography initiative, plans to shout about.

Over the course of 20 months, a dedicated photo team, consisting of 20 of the UK’s top nature, wildlife and landscape photographers, will be travelling the country, carrying out photography assignments at over 20 locations where whole ecosystems are being repaired and re-connected so that they function as they should. Using the stunning images which are captured, and backed by a team of top videographers, sound recordists and writers, 2020VISION will produce an amazing image bank which will be rolled out across the country in a series of City Roadshows to communicate the crucial link between a vibrant nature full of wildlife, and our own well-being. It’s a link that increasingly, science is telling us we need to re-establish.

One of the locations handpicked for this ground-breaking project is the Inner Hebrides. From 16 to 21 July 2011, the 2020 Photo Team consisting of Chris Gomersall, Alex Mustard and Raymond Besant will be on location, to capture not only jaw-dropping nature images, including unique underwater images, but also documentary shots about what ecotourism means to Scotland's west coast communities.

Ecotourism is a major contributor to the local economy of the Inner Hebrides, providing jobs and attracting hundreds of thousands of people to the area each year. Marine ecotourism is on the increase with a host of operators now providing dolphin and whale watching trips in some of the richest waters in the UK.

Assignment photographer, Chris Gomersall, says: “Quite apart from any considerations of the importance of biodiversity, we just have to think about the value of our coasts and inshore waters to people. How many of us rely on clean seas for our leisure activities such as swimming, surfing, sailing, scuba diving and sea angling? Let alone a healthy shellfish industry. And around our lower lying coastlines, saltmarsh, sand dunes and grazing marshes provide a vital sea defence, helping to protect our homes from tidal flooding.”

2020VISION is a collaborative project, working alongside many partners, including Sea Life Surveys who lead the way in experienced and responsible marine wildlife adventures.

Visit www.2020v.org for more information and to find out how to get involved.