[tyson7]

If anyone wants a wildlife holiday in the UK then Gairloch has to be one of the best places, if not the best place to go.

A 4 day trip there recently got me the following:

A 4 hour cruise on Orca 1 with Hebridean Whale Cruises:

- great views of an Otter as we were waiting to get on the boat
- an 8 metre Basking Shark which was as scary as it was fascinating
- 5 Minke Whales lunge feeding around the boat at the same time a long with 100s of seabirds in a huge feeding frenzy
- lots of Porpoise
- thousands and thousands of nesting seabirds at the Shiant Isles including maybe 50,000 Puffins and great views of 2 White Tailed Eagles
- 3 very sociable pods of Common Dolphins
- great views of European Storm Petrols

From the Millcroft Hotel where I stayed (my room looked out over Loch Gairloch) I saw Otters, a pod of around 100 Common Dolphins which seem to be feeding in the Loch almost daily at the minute, Porpoise and several feeding frenzies of seabirds.

We did 3 more trips with Hebridean Whale Cruises all which got us the Cetacean Hatrick - Minke Whales(one which came to investigate us and nearly came onto the boat), Dolphins & Porpoise.

It was the holiday of a lifetime for me and my family and I would definitely reccomendation it. Even my mum spotter a Minke Whale which was a 1st for her.

Chris

[tyson7]

I forgot to say that whilst we were there a pod of Orcas were seen just north of Gairloch. They have been sighted there several times in the last 2 weeks.

We went looking for them the day after they had been sighted. No luck but it was very exciting. It seems as good a place as any to have the chance of seeing Orcas in Scotland.

On the previous trip to Gairloch there was a Sperm Whale seen in the area.

[ClarkWGriswold]

Agree Chris. Gairloch is a fantastic place. Pine Marten are apparently regular in the area as well. Lovely egg and chips in the cafe on the harbour there as well.

Congrats on a successful trip,

Rich

[Allen S. Moore]

It looks a good trip. I was invited to join some university friends for a week in Gairloch at the end of May. Unfortunately, I couldn't go.

BTW, where did we go to university, tyson7? Bradford!

Allen

[Phil Carter]

Sounds excellent. I'll be close to there in a couple of weeks as I'm spending a few days travelling around Scotland hoping to catch up with a few bits and bobs. Otter and Common Dolphin are on that list and, as we'll definitely be visiting Loch Maree, it may be that Gairloch is more convenient than the sites we'd got planned. Any more details would be appreciated.

Phil

[JTweedie]

When I was at school in Glasgow, the school "owned" a building that we called "the croft" in Gairloch. The headteacher felt that young people growing up in inner cities should be able to get the chance to get out into the outdoors, so groups would go up before the summer holidays for a week.

I had been there twice, and on my second visit completed my first Munro - Beinn Alligin. It's a great place.

re. the killer whales nearby, there were people swimming across the Minch to Stornoway and apparently the killer whales came close to them, as did a large unidentified whale - reports of a huge whale coming within a few metres of one of the swimmers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-18607596

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by ClarkWGriswold

Agree Chris. Gairloch is a fantastic place. Pine Marten are apparently regular in the area as well. Lovely egg and chips in the cafe on the harbour there as well.

Congrats on a successful trip,

Rich

Hi Rich

Apparently there are cottages that you can stay at that get regular visits from Pine Martins. I got told that there were loads of Pine Martins & Badgers in the area.

Yeh theres some nice places to eat out there. The mountain coffee shop is pretty good too after afew hours out at sea.
I had a night out looking for Pine Martin & i did some research on Wildcat sightings in the area too but the rain spoilt my chances.

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by JTweedie

When I was at school in Glasgow, the school "owned" a building that we called "the croft" in Gairloch. The headteacher felt that young people growing up in inner cities should be able to get the chance to get out into the outdoors, so groups would go up before the summer holidays for a week.

I had been there twice, and on my second visit completed my first Munro - Beinn Alligin. It's a great place.

re. the killer whales nearby, there were people swimming across the Minch to Stornoway and apparently the killer whales came close to them, as did a large unidentified whale - reports of a huge whale coming within a few metres of one of the swimmers http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-18607596

Thats a good idea from the school. Its a shame that there aren't more opportunities like that for kids. Also lucky swimmers, i would have happily swan over the Minch to get sightings like those.

[Phil Carter]

Any hints or tips on seeing the otters at Gairloch ie. best vantage points anytime of day etc.

Phil

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by Phil Carter

Any hints or tips on seeing the otters at Gairloch ie. best vantage points anytime of day etc.

Phil

I've seen them in 4 different places:

- twice quite far out into the loch from the Millcroft Hotel at around 5pm, there was 2 of them with around 15 porpoises just behind them

- in the loch at around 7am, a couple of minutes after you get past all the shops, on the way to the lighthouse Rubah Red(its called something like that)

- 2 playing together on the way to red point at around 6pm

- 1 in the harbour at 1pm

So basically it seems like you can see them any time anywhere near/in the loch. The harbour is a good option though and dawn and dusk are still the best times.

Chris

[Phil Carter]

Thanks for that Chris, may have saved us a few (precious) hours.

Phil

[Farnboro John]

Chris,

Did you book in advance or could you turn up on the day?

John

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by Farnboro John

Chris,

Did you book in advance or could you turn up on the day?

John

Hi John,

We did afew trips, some we had booked in advance but we also booked a couple the day before. I think scottish schools might have broken up now so i would probably book in advance as they might be busier. I saw afew people try to book on the day, that looked pretty dissapointed, when it was fully booked.

The number is 0800 0086833.

The Orcas have done a big loop last week and the week before. Apparently they followed pretty much the same route & passed just north of Gairloch. I wonder if they'll do the same route this week. If so there is a good chance that one of Nick's trips will encounter them.

Chris

[tyson7]

The one show has been filming from a boat that set out from Gairloch. They were looking from Orcas & they managed to get them on film today attacking Porpoises.

I've never heard of a film crew going out in the uk & seeing Orcas after 24-48 hours. Usually it would take weeks or even months of filming even in Shetland.

[JTweedie]

Gordon Buchanan filmed them around Shetland from a ship for Springwatch a few years ago. I can't remember how long he was out at sea for before seeing them, but it wasn't that long from what I remember.

There's a network set-up on Shetland to keep people aware of sightings of them. I follow a couple of orgs on Facebook and Twitter, and there's quite regular sightings of them, and these are mainly from shore.

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by JTweedie

Gordon Buchanan filmed them around Shetland from a ship for Springwatch a few years ago. I can't remember how long he was out at sea for before seeing them, but it wasn't that long from what I remember.

There's a network set-up on Shetland to keep people aware of sightings of them. I follow a couple of orgs on Facebook and Twitter, and there's quite regular sightings of them, and these are mainly from shore.

Yeh that was pretty impressive of Gordan Buchannan to spend 2wks on a fishing trawler. He said the Orcas pretty much followed the boats because they had learnt it was an easy way to find food.

I went to Shetland last year. I didn't see any cetaceans although i spent hours starring at the sea. I know orcas & other cetaceans are seen there on a regular basis at the right time of year but i was abit dissapointed that there werent any whale watching trips that went out, when its recognised as the best place for cetaceans in the uk. Nice views of otters though & mountain hares.

[JTweedie]

Originally Posted by tyson7

I went to Shetland last year. I didn't see any cetaceans although i spent hours starring at the sea. I know orcas & other cetaceans are seen there on a regular basis at the right time of year but i was abit dissapointed that there werent any whale watching trips that went out, when its recognised as the best place for cetaceans in the uk. Nice views of otters though & mountain hares.

I agree, they're missing a trick by not putting on whale watching trips, although there is a massive area to cover and the whales could turn up anywhere. I think they'd need to do some research to work out where the most likely places are. But when I was there I went out on the boat around Noss and I could see thousands of gannets feeding further out to sea, and I just wished we could have gone out further too.

I did see two whales while there. The first was a minke whale which came up beside the ferry near Yell, and the second one was a, unfortunately dead, sperm whale just below the cliffs at Hermaness.

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by JTweedie

I agree, they're missing a trick by not putting on whale watching trips, although there is a massive area to cover and the whales could turn up anywhere. I think they'd need to do some research to work out where the most likely places are. But when I was there I went out on the boat around Noss and I could see thousands of gannets feeding further out to sea, and I just wished we could have gone out further too.

I did see two whales while there. The first was a minke whale which came up beside the ferry near Yell, and the second one was a, unfortunately dead, sperm whale just below the cliffs at Hermaness.

I think that rarer whales are sighted there more often than anywhere else in scotland but there aren't as many sightings of more common cetaceans like minkes and dolphins.

I saw the picture of the dead sperm whale. Fascinating to see but yes very sad. When I was in Gairloch last year there was a sperm whale seen feeding not far away. However at the time we got told it was minke. Nick, the skipper at Hebridean Whale Cruises said he would have taken us straight to where it had been seen if he had known it was a sperm whale. We were pretty gutted when we found out.

Well done on the minke in Shetland.

[tyson7]

Spent the weekend in Gairloch. The journey there & trip with hebridean whale cruises got us:

2 Minke Whales, 2 bottlenosed dolphins, porpoises, newly fledged baby puffins, a badger & white tailed eagle

[Phil Carter]

We went out with Hebridean Whale Cruises a couple of weeks back, wasn't their most successful trip out with just the one Minke but it was a fantastic experience with Manxies, Storm Pertrels, Bonxies, Puffins and the like. Definitely be going again.
I hear that one day last week they had 18 Minke Whales and 300 Common Dolphins, must have been quite a trip!

Phil

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by Phil Carter

We went out with Hebridean Whale Cruises a couple of weeks back, wasn't their most successful trip out with just the one Minke but it was a fantastic experience with Manxies, Storm Pertrels, Bonxies, Puffins and the like. Definitely be going again.
I hear that one day last week they had 18 Minke Whales and 300 Common Dolphins, must have been quite a trip!

Phil

Yeh thats abit unlucky at this time of year although still some good sightings for you. I think that the 18minkes & 300 dolphins will have been seen over 3 trips in the one day.

I suppose its the fact that nothing is guaranteed that makes it so exciting. They get Orcas every year but haven't seen any so far this year so i guess someone will get lucky at some point soon on a trip.

[tyson7]

Leatherback Turtle today in Loch Gairloch. Apparently it was 2metres long.

It was also seen last Tuesday so has been hanging around.

Also today 3 Orcas were seen North-East of Gairloch. Would be a good week to go up there.

[tyson7]

http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/N...rloch-2414.htm

[Jhanlon]

I too have noticed that Shetland is missing a trick with its lack of pelagics - would be by far your best bet of white-sided dolphin in the UK which I haven't yet caught up with. Did you land on the Shiants? Have been wanting to visit these for the black rats but a charter boat is v expensive.

I was lucky enough to see a minke whale off Wales on Friday with blue shark, sunfish & lots of common dolphins (pic attached). Also due to go this Thurs but the imminent storm will put paid to that!

James

[tyson7]

Originally Posted by Jhanlon

I too have noticed that Shetland is missing a trick with its lack of pelagics - would be by far your best bet of white-sided dolphin in the UK which I haven't yet caught up with. Did you land on the Shiants? Have been wanting to visit these for the black rats but a charter boat is v expensive.

I was lucky enough to see a minke whale off Wales on Friday with blue shark, sunfish & lots of common dolphins (pic attached). Also due to go this Thurs but the imminent storm will put paid to that!

James

No we didn't land on the Shiants although spent a good amount of time there. I didn't see any rats.

You were very lucky to see the blue shark.