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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

White-beaked dolphin lyme bay (1 Viewer)

I have done two of these trips in the past. On the first, it was quite bouncy and hopeless for finding elusive cetaceans. However, we had a couple of Balearic Shearwaters, a stormy or two and a Sooty.

On the second it was bright sunshine and flat as a pancake, and we had great views of WBD all round the boat. Seabirds however were much less in evidence.

The trips are not cheap but if they work, they are worth every penny!

John
 
Thanks, yes I found that site but it has no information beyond 2012, I'll give them a ring tomorrow. Any idea how much it costs roughly? So calm weather best for dolphin, poor weather best for seabirds, luck of the draw
 
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I think I saw £90 quoted for this year but I might be wrong. After a number of wash-outs due to adverse weather in past years Naturetrek came up with the alternative of a waiting list to go on trips (first come first served) with trips to be held whenever conditions are suitable.

Unfortunately that probably means you will be way down the list for this year, but nothing ventured....

You might also want to check out some of the cetacean threads from last year, as there were WBD off Yorkshire/Cleveland/Northumberland during the summer. Perhaps closer for you, and maybe cheaper?

John
 
Ok thanks John, not looking good then, down that way soon anyway, thought there may be more options for tourists etc.., but can only find naturetrek or charter boats. I'll call anyway, you never know. Do you know if theres any chance of them from any headland down there, Portland etc?
 
never seen WBD reported from portland bill or any other dorset seawatching spot unfortunately, other cetaceans, especially bottlenose dolphins are occasionally seen off portland tho
cheers,
James
 
Definitely not a deep water species. They're most frequently found in water of 50-100m deep, and may well struggle to be able to feed effectively at greater depths. Studies in Iceland showed WBD staying within the 200m contour at all times, and diving in water up to 45m.

cheers
martin

They are a deep water species so don't feed very close to shore

Mark
 
Definitely not a deep water species. They're most frequently found in water of 50-100m deep, and may well struggle to be able to feed effectively at greater depths. Studies in Iceland showed WBD staying within the 200m contour at all times, and diving in water up to 45m.

cheers
martin

Apologies, what I meant was that they don't frequent the coastal shallows so seawatching from Portland etc would be difficult, on the Lyme bay trip the boat follows the 50m contour along the bay which is quite a way out.

Mark
 
A quick clarification on this. Farnboro John is right in that a couple of years ago the British weather scuppered almost all of our pre-planned fixed Lyme Bay cruise dates. Winds of 9-10mph+ make the sea too lumpy for a comfortable wildlife cruise and makes finding cetaceans very difficult. What we do now is to wait for some settled weather (0-5mph winds) and then send out an email alert, normally 2-4 days before the cruise. To get yourself added to the email alert list, simply call Dave at the Naturetrek office on 01962 733051 or send an email to [email protected].

There are 10 spaces available on each sailing and these will be allocated on a “first come first served” basis. Those who are unlucky (just miss out) or are unavailable for the first cruise will be automatically contacted for the next cruise before the general alert goes out. We'll be taking a close look with Marinelife at the long-range forecast for Lyme Bay this evening. We could have operated last Friday and Saturday, but the boat was unavailable unfortunately.

Once you have secured your place on the boat, you can make payment over the phone with a credit or debit card. The cost is £95 per person this year.

Your ticket, including details of where to meet, will then be emailed or posted to you.
 
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