Amazing to see this Beluga in Shetland today. Beluga whales are more Arctic and sub-Arctic whales and are rarely seen in Shetland, very few records of these whales in Shetland. Big thank you to Phil, Bec and Ayda from Shetland Seabird Tours - The Noss Boat for picking me up in their 4x4; otherwise, I would not have made it due to the track to my house being deep in snow. Big shout out to the people who first saw it and got it out on the local cetacean groups/facebook.
Filmed this November, the last thing before dark shows members of the 27 pod either playing or practising hunting techniques, or both of these results in the same learned behaviour. Through play, they learn hunting behaviour. This was ongoing for well over 45 minutes. What I managed to observe (it was not always easy to follow due to the speed of the action and disappearing below the surface out of sight for a while before reappearing) was centred around the youngest member of the pod. Other pod members, the two bulls plus another individual, were off hunting in a voe up to 2 km away before making their way back, collecting the playful group, then carrying on their way.
Amazing to see these Northern Bottlenose Whales today in Shetland; they were/are relatively close in and able to see them from above. Again big thanks to the sightings groups to keep everyone informed and allowing so many folk to get on them.
A clip from some drone footage shot for Wild Isles that did not make the edit. Check out the first orca that spy hops; it's got a common seal dangling by the tail from its mouth.
The next episode is Woodlands Sunday, March 19th, Wild Isles 7pm on BBC1. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough. and filmed and produced by an incredibly talented team @silverback_films
#WildIsles
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@southspearmedia @ntgates
Shetland otters
A mum and cub otter had moved across the bay to the other side. This bit of coast is difficult to work, it’s very flat, and the otters can easily see you. However, there were a few stones built up, and I crawled on my belly and got myself in a position where I could at least observe them. They were on the seaweed rolling around, so I slowly put my tripod up and got the camera on it, just above the stones. I even moved a couple of rocks on top to break up the skyline, so I did not spook them while trying to watch. There was a strong south-easterly wind, and I was there to shoot stills. However, the cub started to play fighting with mum, and within a few seconds, they were full-on. It was a very awkward position, and I was failing with stills; too difficult without spooking them. So, I decided to switch to filming on my stills camera to capture the energy of the playfighting. With the strong wind and awkward position, the footage is a bit shaky, but it captures the energy between a cub and mother and the enjoyment of play between them. Check 30 seconds in, and the cub on the seaweed rock, look at its paws going before mum chases it, pure excitement, pure fun, they’re loving it, pure emotion.
Really interesting to see the 27's pod last night, most of the time they looked like they were sleeping/resting, moving very slowly. Followed them from lunchtime with Mark Sisson Photography group along with Shetland Nature wherein the afternoon we last saw them heading around Bressay and Noss. We went to the north of Lerwick and did some scanning but ran out of time and had to drop folk off. However no sooner I had a got home, thanks to Ben Dalgleish he had picked them up again at 5:15pm as they came round the north side of Bressay. It was fascinating to see them in a much slower resting mode compared to their fast-moving exhilarating hunting mode earlier in the day.
A short clip was taken while shooting stills on my DLSR of gannets diving underwater, one of my favourite seabirds, and I love working at sea with them.
www.shetlandphototours.co.uk
Some slow motion of gannets diving was taken on my phone while out with the kids. You can really see how the gannets fold their wings back creating long, oval-shaped bodies for the least resistance, along with air sacs to minimise impact, make them an Olympian diver.
Nice to see a big pod of white-sided dolphins in front of the house yesterday and still there today but need the weather to improve.
www.shetlandphototours.co.uk
Shetland killer whales 27 pod (2nd Jan 2021)
