13/06/2026
A fantastic week spent aboard HWDT’s Silurian.
Despite sub-optimal weather for much of the week i.e. rough seas, rain and mist, we still managed to spot four species of cetacean: minke whale, Risso’s dolphins, common dolphins and harbour porpoise. As we travelled from Ullapool to Lewis, the Shiants, North Uist, Skye, Rona, then back to the mainland, we also logged a fantastic number and variety of birds including puffins, guillemot, black guillemot, fulmar, gannets, great skua, arctic skua, manx shearwaters, various gulls, cormorants, shags, common and arctic terns, and divers (red-throated, black throated and great northern). We also surveyed creels and boats, and listened using a hydrophone to underwater sounds including the sound made by snapping shrimps (a cavitation bubble forms when the shrimp closes its claw creating a sound of volume up to 218 decibels!).
A huge thank you to Hannah, Ferghal, Lenny and Will 🙏, and to citizen scientist volunteers Nick, Diane, Amanda, Chantal and Jayne.
If you fancy a working holiday aboard Silurian, surveying marine mammals and birds, check out HWDT’s website.
