Dolphin and Whale Sightings 2010
The Seabird Centre is an official Seawatch Foundation watching site and many sightings have been made or reported since it opened, making the Centre an important link for Seawatch and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
There were a particularly large number of sightings from the Centre and from our boat trips last year, see reports below and we hope that they will be back with us in 2010. If you have a sighting of a dolphin, porpoise or a whale, please contact us at info@seabird.org. It would be helpful to know the time, the place, numbers, any calves, etc. If you happen to be lucky to be close enough to get a photo, this helps us to identify individual dolphins, as their dorsal fin is the equivalent of a human thumbprint and each dolphin in this group is known by name. If you click on the Dolphin ID link, you can see pictures and information about all the dolphins. Also see the feature in the Edinburgh Evening News. This information is also forwarded to WDCS and the Seawatch Foundation for their records.
The Seabird Centre is a charity and a member of Wild Scotland and WiSE, organisations who respect wildlife and the environment and follow an agreed code of conduct for wildlife watching.
Dolphin and Whale Sightings 2010
April 24th - a group of minke whales were spotted close to Daisy Island at North Berwick. No dolphins reported yet!
Dolphin and Whale Sightings 2009
November - with shorter daylight hours and stormy seas recently, there have been no dolphins sightings reported to us since October. Interestingly, there have been a couple of whale sightings, including 2 killer whales spotted by a Dunbar fisherman, close to Barns Ness.
Wednesday 14th October 5.30pm - Lesley Johnstone - saw 8-10 dolphins at Fernieness, Longniddry Bents - jumping out of the water and feeding - were heading in the direction of Aberlady Bay.
Friday 2nd October approx 11am - David Allison - confirmed a sighting of 6-7 adult dolphins with at least one calf moving along the coast from Prestonpans towards Musselburgh. They were swimming very close to shore and moving very fast and were being followed by large number of seabirds. Fantastic to see.
Friday 2nd October approx 11am - 5-6 dolphins spotted at Prestonpans/Cockenzie Power Station heading towards the Forth Bridge.
Saturday 19th September approx 11am - Simone Anderson reported that a group of approx 6-7 bottlenose dolphins were swimming around the boats with the children in the bay learning to sail with the East Lothian Yacht Club.
Thursday 17th September approx 2.15pm - Ron and Heather Chisholm reported a sighting from the viewing gallery at the Seabird Centre: "We watched, through our binoculars, three, maybe four, dolphins heading towards the Bass Rock and at a distance of 200 to 300 yds from shore. They seemed to be travelling in a determined fashion and were soon lost from sight. One actually cleared the water in a leap."
Thursday 17th September approx 4.20pm - Bob Lorimer reported seeing two groups of approx 5-6 dolphins - swimming towards the mouth of the Forth - very active - leaping and forming a circle, probably fishing.
Thursday 17th September 4pm - Moa Johansson saw a group of 6-7 dolphins from Musselburgh Racecourse - "I believe they were hunting a shoal of fish, they split into two groups, doing a lot of jumping and were being followed by a large group of seabirds. After a while they seemed to finish feeding and swam off towards Prestonpans."
Sunday 13th September approx 1.30 - Joanna spotted a small group of bottlenose dolphins near Leven.
Thursday 10th September approx 7.30pm - group of bottlenose dolphins reported off Prestonpans at 7.30pm.
Monday 7th September - two humpback whales sighted at Lindisfarne, making their way North. The Seabird Centre's boat guide Maggie Sheddan was out on the Bass Rock with a group of photographers and kept a look out for the whales, but unfortunately didn't spot anything!
Monday 7th September approx 11.30am - 3 x small groups of bottlenose dolphins - approx 4-5 in each were seen from the Seabird Seafari boats - close to North Berwick - dolphins were leaping (Sea was very rough) - one mother with a small calf were porpoising through the water. Group was travelling east travelling east towards Canty Bay and the Bass Rock, passed about 40 feet from our boats.
Sunday 6th September at 1pm - Lindsay Roberts of North Berwick spotted around six dolphins in the East Bay (Milsey Bay), North Berwick very close to shore.
Sunday 6th September at about 1.30pm - Matt Acton - looking out over The Forth from North Berwick, from the east end of the East Bay (at the Glen Golf Course) I noticed a large number of dolphins approx 150-200 yards from the shore. There seemed to be in excess of 20 dolphins - some were leaping clear of the water, others were rising enough to see their backs. They were travelling from east to west. I watched them travel along past the golf clubhouse and lost sight of where they went.
Sunday 6th September - 4pm - Maggie Sheddan - sighting reported by the lobster fishermen - approx 15 (poss more) bottlenose dolphins with one... poss 2 calves, close to Fidra. The info came from one of the local North Berwick lobster pot boats.
August 09
There have been a lot of dolphin sightings reported to the Scottish Seabird Centre this month, including several close-ups with dolphins leaping and jumping close to the Seabird Centre's Seafari boats.
27th August - Ian Paterson and his wife spotted a group of about 8 to 10 dolphins swimming off Kinghorn at about 8:30am. They appeared to be fishing close to some fishing boats further down river. Unfortunately they were too far away to identify them in any detail.
18th August - Diane Smith reported a sighting of a pod of 12-15 dolphins just off the coast in front of the Seabird Centre deck, between North Berwick harbour and Craigleith Island, heading towards the Bass Rock 12.30-1.30pm. Visitors at the Seabird Centre had excellent views through the cameras and binoculars and passengers on the Seabird Seafari boat trip got excellent close-up views of the group.
14th August - Murray Begg saw a pod of 8-12 dolphins playing 1/4 mile off Bellypuff (just north of Kinghorn) and making their way slowly upstream at 8.30-9.00pm. At least 3 young with their mothers plus others. Lots of playing jumping and breaching. Burntisland dive boat moved slowly through them before moving off and leaving them in peace. They moved out into the middle of the channel just before Pettycur Harbour as they came around the point.
9th August - 15 dolphins spotted near North Berwick close to Tantallon Castle, East Lothian.
9th August - Fiona Robertson reported seeing a group of dolphins in Largo Bay, Fife.
4th August - Alison Somerville - 3pm - 10-12 dolphins off the Platcock Rocks,, close to the Seaibrd Centre - swimming, leaping, group then circled in pursuit of a shoal of fish. The group continued to swim and play swimming past Craigleith and then towards the Bass Rock skirting East Bay.
4th August - Kitty Wilkie - Saw about 15 dolphins out on boat and sailed with them from the Lamb right out to the Leithies. "They were awesome doing loads of jumping, twisting and Im sure if Id had a ball they would have played with it! Swimming right up to the boat and we could have touched them!!"
3rd August 2009 - 3-4pm - Lynda Dalgleish, Scottish Seabird Centre - group of 12 dolphins - a fantastic dolphin sighting They were swimming east in front of Craigleith on their way to Daisy Island they were very playful lots of complete back flips and leaps quite spectacular. The Seabird Centre's boats got excellent close up views - and switched off the engine to watch the spectacle just feet from the boat.
1st August 2009 - Dougie Ferguson,Seagull Charters 10 dolphins seen from Gullane Point
1st August 2009 - John Hunt, Chair of SOS Puffin - during working partytripto Fidra 3-4 dolphins spotted
31st July 2009 - from Seafari boatby Maggie Sheddan, between Craigleith Island and the Scottish Seabird Centre - 3 dolphins spotted
31st July 2009 - by Marie Atherton from Prestonpans 10-12 dolphins spotted near Prestonpans
30th July - evening between Craigleith island and Seabird Centre approx 20-30 dolphins swam alongside a small group of dinghies and headed along to Canty Bay. They were reported by Seabird Centre volunteer Mary Buglass whose son was sailing on one of the boats. They were also spotted from the beach at Canty Bay by James Barbour from North Berwick he got a good view of them they were travelling fast and aqua-planing through the water.
5th July - Stephen Welch, Lothian Wildlife Yahoo Group - watched a group of at least 8 swimming W into the Forth off Hummel Rocks, Gullane, c. 17:00hrs Sunday 2nd July. Milling around for a while, seemed to be feeding at times when bunching in a tight group, also leaping clear of the water occasionally, before proceeding generally E again about half an hour later. 99% sure they were bottlenose; one fairly small, calf/juvenile.
5th July - 7:48 PM also reported 5 dolphin sp. W up Forth past Port Seton around midday and back again E c. 13.15hrs, going fairly close inshore towards Ferny Ness; exact species unknown but seen leaping clear of water, not far from 2 boats.
4th July 2 - 75 bottle-nose dolphins were seen off Gullane Beach at 19:00 by Robin Jacobs
5th July - comment by Nikki MacLeod of Lothian Wildlife Yahoo Group - This would be amazing if true. That would be over half the entire population of East Scotland bottlenoses all paying us a visit at the same time. If the pod was really 75 I suspect that they were more likely to be common dolphins which tend to congregate in very large numbers at this time of year in cooperative fishing ventures. They were probably chasing the shoals of mackerel that are in currently being caught up and down the Forth. Whatever they were I wish I'd been there to see them too. I certainly haven't seen them up at Wardie Bay but will certainly keep an even beadier eye over the sea for the next few days.
2008
Visitors to the Seabird Centre have been enthralled and wildlife experts baffled during the last year by sightings of a wide variety of whales and dolphins in the Firth of Forth. More than 100 sightings were reported in a 3 month period earlier in the year, attracting the attention of national press and radio. Sightings included several of killer whales, a fin whale, at up to 100 feet long, the second largest animal in the world (after the blue whale), spotted just off Craigleith Island, humpback whale, pilot and minke whales, bottlenose dolphins and Risso's dolphins.
The Seabird Centre is an official Seawatch Foundation watching site and many sightings have been made or reported from the Centre since it opened in 2000, making it an important link for Seawatch and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS). We are co-ordinating sightings with the Scottish Green Party, WDCS, Seawatch and Scottish Natural Heritage to provide more accurate information.
When you contact us, if possible, it would be helpful to know the time, the place, numbers, the species, any calves, the behaviour, for example were they swimming (which direction?), fishing, playing. If you happen to be lucky to be close enough to get a photo, it would be helpful if you could try to include the dorsal fin as this is the equivalent to a human thumbprint and can help us to identify individuals.
