When a wildlife expedition visited former whaling grounds in the Scottish Hebrides, they spotted what may be one of the largest minke whale gatherings on record in the region. Experts estimate they saw up to 30 individuals feeding off the Isle of Eigg, Scotland.
The sighting happened in late August at the end of a 10-night whale research expedition. Guests joined Dr Conor Ryan, a marine scientist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and Hebrides Cruises guide Dan Wagstaff to explore the waters off the Hebridean archipelago of St Kilda.
Now a dual UNESCO World Heritage site (recognised for both its cultural significance and natural wonders), the archipelago is famed for its rugged landscapes and abundant wildlife.
During breeding season, nearly one million seabirds call St Kilda home – including puffins, fulmars and gannets – and several species of whales and dolphins can be spotted in its waters. But whalers used to hunt here in the 20th century.
Although whaling here ended in the 1950s, seeing a gathering of this many minkes is rare even today. “The feeding behaviour itself is typical, but the densities were exceptional,” says Ryan.
They’re here for the food, Ryan explains. “I describe baleen whale feeding like the ‘supermarket effect’: lots of food in one place gathers lots of individuals,” he says. Often it doesn’t last long with the whales “only together for a short period while the food is abundant.”
During the feast, they saw groups of seven and eight whales with more spotted in the distance. They think there were between 20 and 30 minke whales feeding in a four-mile radius off Eigg, an island south-east of St Kilda, which could be one of the largest gatherings recorded around the Hebrides.
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“We witnessed the rapid formation and breakdown of these feeding frenzies when we were on the water that day, with the minke whales dramatically lunge-feeding on shoals of fish alongside shearwaters and auks,” says Ryan.
During the expedition, they also saw a basking shark, bottlenose dolphins and grey seals as well as a mother fin whale and her calf. During whaling times, this species was one of the great whales that were hunted in these waters.
“To finish this year’s expedition surrounded by so many feeding minke whales off Eigg was an extraordinary sight,” says Emma Fairbairns, director and shore manager of the family-run wildlife tour company Hebrides Cruises, adding that the exceptional encounter is “something everyone on board will remember.”
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Top image: minke whale lunge feeding in the Scottish Hebrides. Credit: James Fairbairns, Skipper - Hebrides Cruises
