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Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
A dolphin called Arnie with a shell

Dolphins catch fish using giant shell tools

In Shark Bay, Australia, two groups of dolphins have figured out how to use tools...
Common dolphins at surface

Did you know that dolphins have unique personalities?

We all have personalities, and between the work Christmas party and your family get-together, perhaps...
Leaping harbour porpoise

The power of harbour porpoise poo

We know we need to save the whale to save the world. Now we are...
Holly. Image: Miray Campbell

Meet Holly, she’s an incredible orca leader

Let me tell you the story of an awe-inspiring orca with a fascinating family story...
Humpback whale. Image: Christopher Swann

A story about whales and humans

As well as working for WDC, I write books for young people. Stories; about the...
Risso's dolphin at surface

My lucky number – 13 years studying amazing Risso’s dolphins

Everything we learn about the Risso's dolphins off the coast of Scotland amazes us and...

2017 Sightings in Scotland

Update by Emma Steel

It has been an extremely exciting couple of weeks for cetacean sightings here in Scotland, with a few less common species popping in to say hello, and a total of 12 cetacean species recorded in 2017 so far! The Shorewatch team spent a week up in Caithness and had some fantastic sightings of Orca. These individuals are members of the Icelandic orca population, who travel down to Scotland in May every year. This year they were spotted as far south as Peterhead! 

It has been minke madness across the coastline, with sightings in the Moray Firth of whales breaching, and on a few occasions lots of these baleen whales were spotted from Tiumpan head in the Outer Hebrides. One of our volunteers, Janet Marshall, also sighted a pygmy sperm whale from Tiumpan, a very rare and exciting sighting for her! Not a lot is known about this species, and most information has come from strandings data.