ORCA Survey Team. Left to right Elfyn Pugh, Christine Jones, George Boyer, Maggie Gamble

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1 Fiestas & Fireworks Monday April 16 th Saturday April 28 th 2018 Monday 16 th April 2018 Once again, ORCA is hugely grateful to Saga for allowing a survey team aboard the luxurious Saga Pearl II cruise ship. The survey team members on this cruise are Christine Jones (Team Leader), Elfyn Pugh (Wildlife Officer) and fellow surveyors Maggie Gamble and George Boyer. ORCA Survey Team. Left to right Elfyn Pugh, Christine Jones, George Boyer, Maggie Gamble We are all really looking forward to our voyage south to Portugal and Spain and we sincerely hope that some of you will join us on the Sun Deck at some stage where we hope to show you some whales and dolphins. You can help us to spot them if you like. Our main role on board is to engage with the passengers to give them the best experience possible in terms of wildlife sightings. There is also a serious side to what we do in that we are recording the sightings of any cetaceans we see for scientific purposes. On Monday evening, we set sail from the historic naval port of Portsmouth. Some of you attended the talk given by our Wildlife Officer Elfyn on the wildlife we might see on the cruise. We hope you enjoyed it. Of course, we are all aware that Captain Tanner had to make a few changes to the ships course because of an adverse weather system in the Bay of Biscay and so he steered a course towards the port of Cherbourg in Normandy.

2 Tuesday 17 th April 2018 The ORCA team were on deck at daybreak and we enjoyed watching the spectacular sunrise but we were only able to survey for an hour before we entered the port of Cherbourg so we didn t see any marine mammals however we did see a few gannets, a couple of cormorants and herring and great black-backed gulls. We have really high hopes for the next few days, as we will be cruising through the Bay of Biscay, a sea region renowned for whales and dolphins. Daily totals 0 17 th April (cont d) An unscheduled detour for the Pearl II into the port of Cherbourg today so we just conducted a short survey in the morning with negative results. Our team enjoyed a walk into the town whereas I took a tour of the de-commissioned nuclear submarine Redoubtable playing at being a naval sub commander! Friday 18 th April 2018 We woke up in the English Channel following a night where no doubt some of us were rocked to sleep by the moderate swell the resultant aftermath of the storm system that was prevalent during the previous day. In spite of this, our intrepid ORCA team managed to get out onto our observation deck, which is the sundeck on the Pearl II, in order to conduct our survey. Although there was a heavy swell there weren t many whitecaps so that increased our chances of seeing something. It was dry and the sky was clear so consequently we witnessed a stunning sunrise. It was the birdlife that was more active this morning with a number of gannet s present. The Gannet is Britain s biggest seabird with a wingspan measuring an impressive five and a half feet. Another seabird we saw a few of was the Great Skua otherwise known as a Bonxie to seabird enthusiasts. In fact, during our watch today we saw no less than 17 of these robust seabirds. They are what is termed kleptoparasites or parasitical birds which aggressively harass other seabirds even as large as a gannet to force them to release or regurgitate their last meal. In fact, our surveyor Maggie saw a skua doing just that as it chased a juvenile kittiwake. Adult Gannet Great Skua

3 At 8.10 am, there was a call of sighting from our sharp-eyed starboard observer George who had spotted two Risso s Dolphins ahead of the ship. These magnificent and gentile animals surfaced a couple of times before disappearing away to starboard. Risso s are a large dolphin with quite a prominent falcate or sickle-shaped dorsal fin. They have a bulbous head and both male and female are scarred from interactions with each other in fact it is believed that they rake each with their teeth, which are present in the lower jaw only. Squid form the main part of their diet. I have included an image of Risso s Dolphins below but I must stress that these were not taken today. A pod of Risso s Dolphins (library image) By mid-morning, the sea state had improved slightly and the sun was conveniently on our starboard quarter thus reducing glare. We had a steady flow of seabirds through the morning and early afternoon, which included greater and lesser blackbacked gulls, auk species we saw were puffin, razorbill and guillemot. We saw a number of Manx shearwaters too doing just that shearing just above the surface of the water showing one minute the white plumage of their undersides then their black upper sides which is often described as soot and whitewash! We had reports too from one of the ship s passengers who saw what was probably a skua harassing a couple of tiny birds which may have been Storm Petrels.We had an avian passenger on board too as Elfyn our Wildlife Officer spotted a warbler, which was probably a Chiffchaff, skulking on deck seeking shelter from the wind. This bird was in transit from Africa to spend the summer somewhere in Europe, perhaps Britain. Other seabirds we saw were fulmars, another stiff-winged member of the tubenose family like the Manx shearwater. The ORCA team went off watch early evening and we were in the Shackleton s bar for a pre-dinner meet and our eagleeyed survey team member Maggie spotted some dolphins through the window on the port side. We were not certain of the species then but luckily, other passengers had seen them too from the starboard side and from our conversations with them, we concluded that they were probably common dolphins numbering in total about 20 animals in two separate pods. That ended our day of observations. Daily totals- 2 Risso s Dolphins.

4 Thursday 19 th April 2018 Our ORCA team watch started at 7.15am today. The sea state was relatively calm with a slight residual swell however; the sea mist reduced our visibility to a few kilometres. Very soon following our arrival on the sundeck, we started seeing small pods of short-beaked common dolphins. As its name infers this is the species of dolphin we commonly encounter on many of our voyages on the Saga ships. It is a very attractive dolphin and the distinctive hourglass or figure of eight patterning on its flanks makes it easily recognisable. During the course of our morning watch, we saw a total of 140 common dolphins and some of them had calves with them. A few were seen a short distance from us and others were attracted to the ship and made a bee line for the bow before disappearing under the hull or down the sides of the ship. This species is a social animal and they live in a fission-fusion society whereby they form widely distributed feeding groups. Below are some images of the animals seen today. Short-beaked Common Dolphin Short-beaked Common Dolphin showing the hourglass pattern on the flank Further sightings included more Risso s dolphins as seen the previous day and a small number of long-finned Pilot Whales (which aren t really whales at all but members of the dolphin family) these again are a social species and live in what is termed a matriarchal society. The image below of a pilot whale was not taken this morning it is from my image library. This species of dolphin has a dorsal fin which is set slightly forwards than central and the body is black in colour hence the colloquial name for this species and others of Blackfish.

5 Long-finned Pilot Whale (library image)) During mid-morning, we had a sighting of two whales, which transpired to be one of the most enigmatic and intriguing animals on Earth. These were beaked whales. You can see from the photograph taken of the animal below that it is a medium sized whale and that the dorsal fin is set well back along the body. This is a typical feature of beaked whales but it is extremely difficult to assign a species name to this animal as in order to do that we would need to see its head and particularly the lower mandible to establish the configuration of the teeth or tusks, which are present on the males of beaked whale species. Females lack teeth except in one species. I am of the opinion that this is a Cuvier s Beaked Whale. Beaked whales spend most of their time under the surface but being mammals like us they have to surface to breathe. They hold the record for holding their breath! Recently a beaked whale was recorded as diving for just over 2 hours; this is incredible before surfacing to breathe! Quite remarkable. A species of beaked whale

6 The fact that we were seeing beaked whales and pilot whales suggested that we were over deep water and this we confirmed later by liaising with the officers on the bridge. When we saw these animals, we were in depths exceeding 1000 meters. Both species feed on squid, which inhabit the dark and murky depths of the ocean whereby they utilise their sophisticated echolocation abilities to forage for prey. Shortly after the sighting of the beaked whale, another medium sized cetacean made an appearance on the port side but some distance away. Photographs were taken of this animal at the time but it wasn t until the team arrived home in the UK and took a further look at the images, liaised with whale experts that we were able to confirm that the animal we saw was in fact a Minke whale, which is the smallest member of the rorqual family of baleen whales. Therefore, this is a new species to our overall tally. Minke Whale As indicated earlier, common dolphins made a regular appearance during the course of the morning. Our afternoon watch was not as productive as our efforts in the morning. We had some splashing behaviour on our starboard side ahead of the ship which we thought may have been some tuna and then excitedly we had two separate pods Bottlenose Dolphins attracted to the bow of the ship of bottlenose dolphins. A group of them headed for the bow and we were able to get a photo of them as they did this and you can see this below. Bottlenose dolphins are one of the most widespread species of cetaceans in the world and the most familiar and universally adored animal by mankind.

7 There was somewhat a lull in sightings thereafter. A couple of whale blows were seen in the distance. One of our most exciting sightings of the day though was the appearance of three fin whales ahead of the ship and it was their blows or spouts, which alerted us to them. A blow is the exhalation of stale air from the lungs of the animal, which condenses as it meets the cooler air. As is usually the case we see the blow of the animal followed by a long-streamlined body and then the quite large dorsal fin which is set about two-thirds along the back of the animal from the head. The dorsal fin of the fin whale is quite prominent. These were big animal s maybe 70-80ft in length and weighting in the region of around 70 tons. Fin whales are the second largest species of whale on Earth. Fin Whale (head on left falcate dorsal fin on the right) That transpired to be the last sighting of any cetaceans during our watch today but we received reports that the bridge officers had seen a basking shark passing close by the ship at around 8.15am this morning. We hope you have enjoyed your day and a huge thanks to all of you who popped to see us at some stage during the day and who were lucky enough to share some of these exciting experiences with us. We are hoping for some more great sightings tomorrow as we have a full day at sea again. Daily totals Common dolphin 85, Minke whale 1 Pilot whale 6, Beaked whale 3, Fin whale 4, Bottlenose dolphin 11 Risso s dolphin 2 Unidentified dolphin 10, Unidentified whale 5 Common/striped dolphin 2, Tuna 3

8 Some of our fellow passengers doing a spot of whale-watching Friday 20 th April 2018 We got up onto our observation deck early this morning to be greeted by a bank of fog. We can t survey in those conditions but somebody didn t tell the dolphins that as we had a small number of them heading straight for the bow in a playful mode. We had smaller numbers thereafter. We also had some striped dolphins doing the same thing. It is sometimes difficult to tell the two species apart and they occasionally mix in fact the species have hybridised. There isn t much difference in size between them either. I have inserted images of the two species for comparison. These are mother and calf combinations. Striped dolphin left and common dolphin right.

9 Following this George our surveyor had a sighting of a shark close to the ship on the port side. His assessment is that it was a basking shark, which backs up the encounter we had with one of these animals yesterday which was seen by the bridge officers in similar circumstances. Basking sharks are the second largest fish in the World. They feed on zooplankton by skimming for these tiny creatures just below the surface by opening their huge mouths. The zooplankton they feed on, like copepods, are then trapped in the gill rakes of the shark before being swallowed. In clear water, this method of feeding can be clearly seen. We believe that both these animals are moving slowly northwards on migration. Our last sightings today were of two whale blows seen ahead of the ship which were probably emitted by a rorqual whale perhaps a fin or even a blue Whale. Unfortunately, we did not see the body of the animals. Thereafter as you, all know the weather deteriorated quite significantly and the wind strength increased to gale force seven. In such winds, the motion of the ship makes it dangerous to walk around, so the decks were closed off to us all which included our observation deck so that effectively ended our survey efforts for today. Daily totals- common dolphin 36, striped dolphin 6, unidentified whale- 1, basking shark 1 Saturday 21 st and Sunday 22 nd April 2018 The ORCA team hope that you have all had a good time in Seville. We valuably used our free time here to increase our bird list by going out with a local bird guide to the Donana Natural Park area. Donana is a vast area of wetland and marsh, which is of international importance and is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our day with the bird guide was very productive indeed and in just a few hours we clocked up an impressive 76 species of birds. Our day ended by sharing with you all the fantastic firework display, which marked the end of weeklong celebrations in Seville.

10 Monday 23 rd April 2018 Today we bid farewell to the vibrant city of Seville and cruised down the Guadalquivir River towards the Gulf of Cadiz. Of course as you know it took us most of the day to navigate down this long river which is the lifeblood of this region of Spain and vastly important to the local economy. As eluded to previously the Coto Donana National Park borders the river and it s of vital importance to birdlife. The National Park has been a famous destination for birders for decades. The ORCA team were out on the sundeck for the whole duration of our passage downriver. Our charity involves the conservation of whales and dolphins but many of our survey volunteers are keen birdwatchers too and that is the case on this trip so we were eager to see what birdlife we could spot whilst we cruised downriver. We were not disappointed. To include the entire list of bird species we recorded would take up a lot of space here so I will include them all on a final list at the conclusion of the cruise. However, here is a taster of one of the most iconic species of the Coto Donana reserve and that is greater flamingo with its striking pink plumage and the weirdest shape for a bird imaginable! We saw thousands of them feeding and resting on the reserve as we cruised downriver. Greater flamingo We didn t reach the mouth of the river until the evening and as we sailed out into the Gulf of Cadiz we were able to get about an hour s surveying in for whales & dolphins before the sun set below the horizon. We did not spot any animals. Nevertheless, we were all buzzing after an exciting afternoon watching birds down the Guadalquivir River. Monday 23 rd April 2018 As we headed into the port of Portimao in the early morning, we were only able to survey for an hour but it was worth it as we spotted a pod of four Risso s dolphins gently surfacing just ahead of the ship in the mirror calm sea. If you recall, we had seen this species in the Bay of Biscay on our voyage south. Tuesday 24 th April 2018 Early morning the ORCA team were out surveying on deck again as we left the port of Portimao. We had calm seas and reasonably good visibility. Our first sighting of the day was a group of four Risso s dolphins again and we wondered if they were the same pod we had seen the previous day as we entered the port. This was followed by some striped dolphins which were attracted to the ship. Christine also thought she had seen an ocean sunfish. The wind strength increased as the morning progressed and the sea state became rather choppy which made it more difficult to spot animals.

11 A couple of whale blows were seen and were presumed to be fin whales but we can t be sure without seeing the body of the animal. The blows can be seen even in strong winds as it takes a few seconds to dissipate. George our observer on the port side spotted a tall fin cutting through the water some distance away and thought it might have been an orca or killer whale. The dorsal fin on a mature male or bull orca can be as high as 2 metres which is as tall as a man! Below is a picture of a pod of orcas which I took off the San Juan Washington State USA to illustrate a typical family pod of orcas and the animal on the right with the tall dorsal fin is the male. A family pod of orcas or killer whales (library image) The birds we saw mostly today were gannets and a couple of great skuas but we also saw a dark-phase Arctic skua, which is smaller and slenderer than the great skua. You can see the characteristic protruding central tail feathers on this bird. This is also a parasitic skua and they often work in pairs to harass other seabirds robbing them of their last meal. Dark phase Arctic skua Our next cetacean sighting was some more striped dolphins down the starboard side and I managed to capture one breaching with it belly up which they often do. They are exuberant and acrobatic dolphins and they often undertake their gyrations in the wake of the ship so do keep your eyes peeled for that. Striped dolphin

12 At mid-day, as the usual announcement came over the tannoy system, a bushy low-angled blow was spotted on the port side by our observers followed shortly later by a second one. We were in very deep water then and both these animals were probably sperm whales. The blowhole on the head of the sperm whale is situated on the left side and depending on the angle, you are viewing the animal it is angled at about 45 degrees and is a useful diagnostic identifying feature in sperm whales. Below I have included an image of what we might see of a sperm whale which is of an animal logging or resting on the surface and you will see the angled blow to the right of the image. It is very easy to miss a sperm whale. Sperm Whale logging During the afternoon, the weather deteriorated to a force 7 gale so we abandoned our watch on the sundeck and continued on the Veranda deck at the stern. We saw a few more striped dolphins playing in the wake of the ship but we didn t get any more sightings of whales. Friday 25 th April 2018 We cruised into the Spanish port of Vigo in the early morning; we did a brief deck watch but didn t see anything of wildlife value. Many of you enjoyed tours of the area arranged by Saga and you will have enjoyed the company of two of the ORCA team members Christine & Maggie who acted as tour escorts. We sailed out of Vigo early evening into a rather choppy sea. The weather was beautifully sunny and clear but the battering from the strong wind made it uncomfortable on the bow of the sundeck. The sea state made it difficult to spot any marine mammals however, a flash of a body at the bow of the ship suggested that it might have been a harbour porpoise, the smallest cetacean we are likely to encounter in European waters. It was the first sighting of this animal on our cruise. There were a few gannets, gulls and shearwaters around too. The wind grew progressively stronger in intensity and the sea state increased but we did see some dolphins, which came into the bow of the ship and in the wake. We know that these were common dolphins and striped dolphins respectively. Unfortunately, we then had to end our survey as it became unsafe to move around on deck. That seems to have been the order of the day on this cruise, which has been quite challenging at times due to the weather and sea state but in spite of that, the ORCA team have enjoyed every minute of it. We have one more port of call before we cruise back home to Portsmouth so we get one more shot at the Bay of Biscay and the Channel Approaches to increase our tally of marine mammals.

13 Saturday 26 th April 2018 As we sailed towards our next port of call, which is Aviles, we were out on deck to catch the first light. We were so pleased to see a relatively calm sea following our battering during the previous days. At around 8am there was a shout of sighting from our observer George who was on the port side. There was huge excitement as a large pod of bottlenose dolphins were seen to our port and ahead. They were attracted to the ship. Some of the animals breached and there was certainly a couple of mother & calf combinations. We estimated that there were at least 45 animals in this pod. Bottlenose dolphins are one of the larger members of the dolphin family and they are a battleship grey colour with a distinctive beak (hence their name) and they have a falcate dorsal fin. Bottlenose dolphins Total no. of marine mammals to date Fin whale 4 Sperm whale- 2 Unidentified whales 8 Beaked whale- 3 Unidentified medium cetacean 2 Common dolphin -11 Striped dolphin- 22 Risso s dolphin- 12 Pilot whale- 6 Orca or killer whale 1 Bottlenose dolphin 64 Common/striped dolphin- 2 Unidentified dolphin- 11 Harbour porpoise - Other- Basking shark 1, Ocean sunfish 1, Tuna th April (cont d) We cruised out of Aviles at 6pm, heading north across the Bay of Biscay towards our home port of Portsmouth. Hopefully we will be ahead of the storm, which is brewing in the Atlantic. It was pleasant on deck if somewhat slightly chilly but we had excellent visibility. It was a while before we started to get sightings of dolphins, which we hoped to see, but when they appeared, they certainly put on a good show for us. As the sun was setting over the horizon westward to our port, we had a mad flurry of both common and striped dolphins making a beeline for the ship s bow. Common dolphin

14 They approached us from all directions from ahead and on the port and starboard sides. It got to a point where we didn t know where to look! It was like stereophonic dolphins! The ORCA team were very excited. We remained on watch until 9.30pm and then darkness befell us. It had certainly been quite an evening of dolphin mania. Striped dolphins Total no. of cetaceans seen today- Common dolphin- 247 Striped dolphin 12 Bottlenose dolphin 53 Common or striped dolphin 2 Friday 27 th April 2018 We had crossed the Bay of Biscay overnight having avoided the worst of storm front. The sea state made an official ORCA deck survey impossible as the turbulent seas were making the ship roll meaning, walking around the decks was unsafe. We gave our final talk in the morning, which many of you attended. By afternoon as we entered the sheltered English Channel the weather and sea state improved and we were able to conduct a deck watch. We did not see any marine mammals but we did get some birds. There were gannets around and a few guillemots, lesser black-backed gulls, 2 whimbrel, 2 great skuas, swallow, swift, and 2 blackcaps (a male & a female) alighted on deck for a brief respite on their migratory journey to somewhere in Europe, possibly Britain. Male blackcap

15 Saturday 28 th April Today we bade farewell to the Pearl II as we docked at our home port of Portsmouth. The ORCA team wish to extend a heartfelt thanks to Saga and to the Captain and entire crew of the Saga Pearl II for their hospitality and professional service during the duration of the cruise. We also wish to thank all of the ships passengers and particularly those who regularly shared time with us on deck spotting whales and dolphins and other wildlife. During the cruise, and in spite of the occasionally challenging conditions, we were able to gather valuable data on the distribution of cetaceans with a view to their long-term conservation. We thank you all for your support. We saw a total of 591 animals on our cruise survey and 10 species of cetaceans. You can find a breakdown of the species we saw and where they were sighted on the map below. The ORCA team Wildlife Officer Elfyn Pugh took all the photos contained in this report.