Our last trip of the season proved to be yet another successful one and we managed to break the 12,000 animal figure for our series of 2007 trips! We would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all 724 travellers who joined us in Biscay during 2007.

This particular trip yielded 25 Fin Whales, 64 unidentified large rorquals, 5 Cuvier’s beaked Whales, 2 probable Cuvier’s beaked Whales, 1 possible Northern Bottlenose Whale, 3 Minke Whales, 462 Common Dolphins, 94 Striped Dolphins, 18 Bottle-nosed Dolphins, 8 Risso€s Dolphins, 7 unidentified dolphins and 30 Harbour Porpoise.

Other marine life included an Ocean Sunfish and several small tuna species.

Seabirds included 14 Sabine’s Gulls, 22 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Manx Shearwater, 3 Arctic Skuas, 51 Bonxies, 4 Common terns, 1 Arctic Tern, 3 Guillemots and 67 Storm Petrels.

Migrants recorded on or from the ship included a Merlin, a Common Buzzard, a Turtle Dove, a Goldcrest, 10 White Wagtails, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Swallows and an Angle Shades moth. Highlights in Spain were 2 Sparrowhawks, a Peregrine, Green Woodpecker, 5 Black Redstarts, 4 Red-backed Shrikes, 10 Serins, 5 Tree Pipits, 2 Sardinian Warblers, 2 Fan-tailed Warblers, 4 Cetti’s Warblers, 6 Whitethroats, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 5 Whinchats, 2 Wheatears and 4 Cirl Buntings. 3 Turnstone, 6 Sandwich Terns, 6 Shags and a Kingfisher were in Santurtzi Harbour.

10 species of butterfly included Long-tailed Blue, Adonis Blue, Clouded Yellow, Cleopatra and Geranium Bronze. We also recorded a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

The Company of Whales has been providing effort-related sightings data for ORCA for over ten years. This data has been utilised for a number of key research projects on cetaceans, ranging from the distribution of common dolphins in areas of the Western Approaches to the English Channel where they are susceptible to bycatch in fishing gear, through to new discoveries which have revealed the presence of rare beaked whales close to the Spanish coast.

ORCA is extremely grateful to the work of The Company of Whales, its guides, and staff, for gathering and submitting this information, which is essential if we are to further understand marine mammals in the European Atlantic and the threats that they face.

For further information on The Company of Whales and their Bay of Biscay holidays, please check out their website at www.companyofwhales.co.uk
E-mail the or phone their office on 01950 422483.