Page 44 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

Mike had his
binoculars
out (right) but
luckily another
dolphins and thousands of lion’s mane
crew member d
photographed j jellyfish. Today, however, as we approached
the ‘flying’ Rathlin Island off the north-east coast of
thresher shark.
Ireland, the final leg of the expedition still had
one more surprise in store.
o m
o one
Whi ile staring out to sea with John, one
of the
o fisheries scientists, we caught a
glimps
g se of a big splash out of the corner
th ose hours spent staring at a seemminglly of our respective eyes, some 200m away
m
mpty sea were recompensed in oone
em n to star rboard. Another breach. A thresher
t
wo onderful moment. My delight at shark! This remarkable shark has seldom
aving found the second-largest aanimaal
ha n been o observed in British and Irish waters.
n the planet was soon replaced wwith
on i But so o distinctive is the whip-like, upper
an h s lobe of f a thresher’s tail fin that we knew its
nxiety as to how we would get this
y
le eviathan on camera. Fortunately,, wwe identit ty even before it had splash-landed. Thre
w a n The sh
were ahead of schedule, so Captain
hark deploys its unique hunting
k
D
Dennis was only too happy to take weapo on in a flick-like motion to stun any
a detour from our transect to “follow
a o o fish, b efore returning to devour them.
t that whale”. My g gear of choice for enjoying this John P
mptu spectacle was my binoculars, but
Known as the ‘greyhound of thhe improm Thresher & fin whale: John Power; Dilger: Sam Challenger r
e
t
o
oceans’, the 20m-plus fin whale is s luckily y John had selected his camera. And
fi
r renowned for moving at a terrific what a a series of photos he managed to bag Dilger: S
x
d
d
f
m
i
h
R
i
’
b
hat one moment of drama. A fitting
Buoyed by the Risso’s and our proximity li k b efore vanishing. But after a nervouus 30 from th
i
B
lick be
to the shelf, I decided to devote extra eeffort minut tes of constant scanning, we were ggifted finale t to our trip: The One Show wildlife
e
d
f
e
to my sea watching. Almost immediately I anothe er blow less than 100m in front of the wager had most definitely paid off.
th
was rewarded as a massive blow caugghtt my bow. A e ed
A nod from cameraman Sam revealed
y
eye 2km away to port side. This was mmuch that h e had indeed managed to film a coouple MIKE DILGER is nat lis t a
u
le
MIKE DILGER is aa naturauralistand
taller than the humpback’s bushy bloww: of blow h wildlife presenter for BBC Onene’ss
:
ws, as well as the whale’s astonishingly
p
it resembled an 8m fluted flower vase. long b back and small, hooked dorsal fin. The O n e Sho w His films o f th e C eltic
e
The One Show. His films of the Celtic
“Blow!” I yelled, following up with a shout Explore er voyage are expected to air in January.
s
r
xp
of “either blue or fin!”. 20 JU
ULY: FINISHING WITH A FLOURISH
I was delighted and relieved in equal Two d days earlier, perfect conditions in the + FIND OUT MORE
+ F
IN
D
h Minch had at one point produced no
measure when Catherine, the other MMOO, North D Discov ver more about Ireland’s Marine Institute
M
w.marine.ie and about cetaceans in Irish
a at www
h
latched straight onto a second blow, whicch fewer than three minke whales around our
w waters s at www.iwdg.ie
l
she suspected belonged to a fin whale. AAll ship, i in addition to Risso’s and common
“ ALL THOSE HOURS
SPENT STARING AT A
SEEMINGLY EMPTY SEA
WERE RECOMPENSED
IN ONE WONDERFUL
MOMENT WHEN WE SAW
A FIN WHALE BLOW. ”
“There she blows!” A fin
whale was a highlight of
Mike’s voyage. The species
turns up off Ireland from
July, and numbers peak in
August–December,