Dolphins in the Clyde

[capn666]

Ian
You were not imagining it. I too saw a whale breeching in the distance off Inchmarnock by the time I got the others attention it had gone and they thought I'd had too much the previous night in Tarbert. Also, on another occasion a minke swam right alongside us about 50 metres off Garroch Head - so close that when it exhaled we were treated to severe fishy halitosis!
Also saw a large pod of common dolphins off Toward Point last autumn - young un's as well.

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[Gordonmc]

Re. whales... I heard a tale from a sea-kayaker of an encounter with a beastie off Arran some years ago. He was in a group of three canoes en route from Brodick to Corrie when the whale broached less than fifty metres from them.
They thought it was a Sei whale... and one of them was a marine biologist.
This is a rare species in open waters, let alone the Clyde.
Re. seals... a few years ago there were two distinct colonies on Lady Isle off Troon. I have been round the isle a few times over the last few weeks and the numbers are certainly well down, possibly due to the movement of fast ferries and the end of white fish landing at Ayr and Troon.





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[PeteMcK]

Possibly Minke - definitely big - mid-firth off Brodick a few times in recent years.

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[PeteMcK]

I think what Donald was meaning was that, around here, the porpoises never leap out, whereas the dolphins sometimes do. If they were leaping, they must be dolphins.

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[ponapay]

In my time at sea (50 years plus)

I have never seen Porpoises do anything other than just break the surface; but have often seen Dolphins of many varieties breach, leap and cavort in apparent joy.

I see Dolphins frequently in the Moray Firth, Bottlenose, Common, Atlantic Whiteside and also Minke, Killer and Pilot Whales. The Bottlenose one sees often in their hundreds and occasionally the Atlantic Whiteside and Common Dolphins even in the approaches to Aberdeen Harbour. Again the Dolphins frequently breach the surface but the Porpoises never do.

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[Dougie_the_Mate]

There is a colony of seals at Scalpsie on Bute and when we were over at Rothesay at Easter time there were a couple in Rothesay Bay just off Craigmore. When cruising with some friends a couple of years back, we had just left Port Bannantyne and were moving over to the Cowal shore when some porpoises surfaced very close to the boat. I was helming and was the only person on deck at the time - it was a lovely moment. The Clyde is indeed getting much cleaner I have no memories of these creatures when I was young and Rothesay was in its heyday.

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