Having the whale of a time…
White-beaked Dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris, off Blyth 29/07/2011 (c) Martin Kitching/Northern Experience Image
A local wildlife surveyor has recorded minke whales and white beaked dolphins off Druridge Bay. On his twitter account, Martin Kitching, lead surveyor for the Northeast Cetacean Project has posted several sightings of the sea creatures in our area in recent weeks.
‘white-beaked dolphins bow-riding our survey vessel 2 miles off Druridge Pools’
‘Minke Whale off Alnmouth -cetacean central 🙂 but the sea’s a bit lumpy.’
Martin is the lead surveyor for the Northeast Cetacean Project, a partnership involving Marinelife, Northern Experience Wildlife Tours (NEWT), Natural England, Northumberland & Tyneside Bird Club and the Northumberland Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (IFCA).
Between July and August Martin operates offshore wildlife and birdwatching trips from Royal Quays and Seahouses (see blog address below).
He runs four hour evening trips in late July and early August, full day trips in early-mid September and two longer trips (late July and mid August) out to the Farne Deeps, which he tells us is an incredibly important area of deep water well off shore from Dunstanburgh.
“In November and December we have a couple of trips from Seahouses, sailing around the Farnes and Holy Island.”
Here’s a link to a blog post he wrote in September last year: http://www.northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk/blog/index.php/birdwatching/life-begins-at-40 which includes some video footage of white-beaked dolphins off Druridge Bay, minke whales off Alnmouth, plus shearwaters and skuas.
His website is: www.northeastcetaceans.org.uk.
After nearly 9 years of finding, studying and photographing White-beaked Dolphins off Northumberland, I’m still spellbound by just how beautiful and enigmatic they are. It’s great that The Ambler has this article, which will raise the profile of our marine mammals in the local community 🙂 If you see any whales, dolphins or porpoises, please submit your sightings online at http://www.northeastcetaceans.org.uk. If you would like to know more about the trips that we run to search for them then please visit http://www.newtltd.co.uk/tours.php?id=15