With just one days notice I was asked to join a Whale Watching Ship, the MV Andfjord a converted fishing vessel, in Den Helder and sail to the central North Sea. I stayed onboard for 47 days during which time the ship was off station for 3 days to refuel and was unable to conduct observations due to poor weather for 12 days so in total 32 days were spent looking for mammals. During these 32 days the prevailing Sea State was force 3 and wind direction was Northerly 7-10 knots.

Initially the days passed without any mammal observations; this was partly due to bad weather but even on good days nothing was to be seen. However as the weather improved I made my first sighting of the cruise survey - a group of 4 Harbour Porpoise feeding beneath a ball of sea birds (mostly kittiwakes, fulmars and gannets) always a good indicator for spotting mammals.

Then in late April things changed; on a beautiful day with perfect conditions up went the cry “Minke fine on the starboard bow” to be followed by “and the port bow, beam, stern” – we had been surrounded by up to 30 to 40 beautiful Minke, clearly feeding with many surface lunges and occasional breaches – what a perfect birthday present. 

Over the next few days groups of 20-30 Atlantic White-sided Dolphin and White-beaked Dolphin were encountered with one of these groups being a mix of both species, all actively feeding.

Grey seals (were not to be missed) (also made an appearance), with their Labrador looks and surprised expressions before disappearing to feed in the depths below.

In total 42 sightings and some 156 mammals were recorded comprising 5 positively identified species. These were, in descending order of frequency, Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus), Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus), and White-beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris). Two sightings at long range of unidentified dolphins were also made.

Sea birds – The number of birds observed seemed to increase proportionally with the number of mammals. Large groups were rarely seen but many small groups of the following birds were observed: Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Gannets and, my favourite, the Puffin which was seen throughout the survey despite the poor weather. Others seen included Sku, Herring and Common Gull, a few Little Auk, some Sooty Shearwaters and an Oyster Catcher.

Migratory and/or lost birds included a Merlin, a White Wagtail, several Warblers and many others which I could not identify without my bird book or access to the internet.

So, you might ask, why spend weeks away from home and family at the age 51 (even over your own birthday!) - it seems crazy? Well I left the Royal Navy last year after 32 years service. Before leaving I spent 3 years in the NATO Underseas Research Centre in La Spezia , Italy where, incidentally, I met the Chairperson Kelly MacLeod during a marine mammal scientific cruise in the Gulf of Genoa. The aim of the marine mammal projects was to understand how and why whales and dolphins were affected by man made noise. Armed with this knowledge protocols were developed in order to avoid damaging mammals while conducting essential military training, especially whilst using active SONAR. Obviously this knowledge has clear application for any man made noise in any sea or ocean.

I returned from Italy as a qualified NATO MMO and MMO Instructor and tried to implement MMO training for the RN but due to massive MOD cutbacks this was not possible at the time. I then left the Navy to seek employment in a field where I truly felt that I could help make a difference. Acting as an MMO for a commercial consultancy company has given me this opportunity.