ORCA’s June training workshop, run in collaboration with The Company of Whales (www.companyofwhales.co.uk), provided ORCA volunteers with a fantastic opportunity to learn whale and dolphin survey techniques. Volunteers worked in groups of three with an angle board, GPS unit and reticule binoculars during practise survey watches.

The highlight of the dedicated research and recording trip was an encounter with two male Cuvier’s beaked whales very close to the ship. Totals for the trip were two pilot whales, 602 common dolphins, 12 bottle-nosed dolphins, 1 striped dolphin and 45 unidentified dolphins. Seabirds included 1 Cory’s and 1 Mediterranean shearwater plus a storm petrel.

In Spain the group got to relax from survey work and recorded 4 griffon vultures, Sardinian, fan-tailed, grasshopper and melodious warblers and a wryneck. Other wildlife included a wall lizard and a hummingbird hawk moth.

ORCA would like to thank The Company of Whales for their generous donation towards ORCA’s vital work. Photos have been kindly provided by Isil Filipuci.

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.
Click to E-mail the Company of Whales or phone their office on 01950 422483.