Page 43 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

MARINE LIFE

from afar. But a sea state of 3 or more
makes an emerging dorsal fin or whale’s
blow far more challenging to pick out
among the countless breaking waves. Due
to the limited time the Celtic Explorer would r
be spending along the continental shelf, we
were desperate for conditions at these key
locations to be as calm as possible. Today,
Making waves: a Risso’s
with a sea state of around 6, we were faced dolphin breaches. The
with another prime opportunity lost. species’ white markings
Unable to pick out any cetaceans amongst come from tussles.
the waves and swell, I contented myself
with marvelling at the Manx shearwaters
rapidly alternating black and then white as little of note beyond a single minke whale, and the animals’ pace seemed too leisurely
they skimmed above the waves. Suddenly, common dolphins and the ever-present for bottlenose. They came closer. Finally,
in among the flickering flock was another, fulmars and gannets, the wind finally was we could see pale backs as they surfaced –
water
beginning to relent as we steamed out once
instead
slightly bulkier shearwater. It instead be gi nnin g a tell-tale identification feature of a much

.
It
e continental shelf edge. Would this
switched between blaack and black: sooty again to the more unusual dolphin.
shearwater! This phennomenal globetrotter be the mom Risso’s dolphins start life grey, but their
ment when conditions and location
breeds on a small nummber of islands in happily coi incided? proclivity for tussling with each other leads to
the South Atlantic andd South Pacific, many mature animals slowly turning white
before wandering far and wide for 12 JULY: THE BIG ONE as a result of extensive scarring. Without
the rest of the year. A ‘sooty’ is As we hea d ded west, the flattening seas warning, as the small pod passed by the ship,
s
guaranteed to brighteen up any enabled u s to pick out half-a-dozen hooked a couple of individuals leaped clear of the
birder’s day, includingg mine. dorsal fin s s coming our way. Even from a water, revealing an ivory hue and bulbous
After several days oof rough con s siderable distance, it was obvious heads. For an instant, they looked more like
hey were too large for commons,
w
weather, when we saw th beluga whales than battle-scarred dolphins.
A zero on the ‘Sea State’
code (still water) makes it
easier to spot marine life.
Inset: a sooty shearwater
brightened up Mike’s day.

February 2018 BBC Wildlife 43 Risso's: Sam Challenger; shearwater; Buiten-Beeld/Alamy; boat: Mike Dilger