Beluga, North Mainland, Shetland (1 Viewer)

[Paul Chapman]

There is a Beluga off Hillswick.

That is a proper sighting & I imagine a more picturesque occurrence than the Thames Estuary individual.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747599200013938910

All the best

Paul

 

[Farnboro John]

Hillswick is our gaff in autumn and even though it's not a tick this is more than a little frustrating.... of course it may be just a Russian spy.

Edit: if so is it defecting?

John

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747634950646501828

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747695848673149281

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747699037648601143

 

[Andy Lakin]

What is the nearest these are usually found? Also are rare cetacean sightings becoming more frequent around the U.K?
Cheers
Andy

 

[JTweedie]

This map on the NOAA website shows their range, mostly well north of Norway. Svalbard probably the closest to us. I've seen other maps showing them as far south as northern Iceland, but the image resolution was poor and I couldn't read the key to the map.

Obviously they've ventured south on occasion - as mentioned in Winterwatch tonight this was the 6th sighting around Shetland I think since the 1970s, and there was one in the Thames in 2018 and one in the Seine in 2019.

 

[aeshna5]

Shown on Winterwatch last night.

I was happy with my proper sighting in the Thames Estuary even if slightly less scenic.

 

[Farnboro John]

I was on Shetland when the Thames Estuary Beluga turned up and you've never seen such stressed twitchers as me and Roy... we considered flying off but in the end gritted it out and went as soon as we got back - even then I dipped the first attempt!

Finally scoring I made the locals jump with my roar of "she blows!"

John

 

[Martin Bell]

There are regular whale watching trips to see Beluga along the St Lawrence River in Canada - a similar latitude to the UK

 

[Andy Adcock]

There are regular whale watching trips to see Beluga along the St Lawrence River in Canada - a similar latitude to the UK

That's actually, well South of the Southernmost tip of the UK.

 

[Andy Adcock]

This map on the NOAA website shows their range, mostly well north of Norway. Svalbard probably the closest to us. I've seen other maps showing them as far south as northern Iceland, but the image resolution was poor and I couldn't read the key to the map.

Obviously they've ventured south on occasion - as mentioned in Winterwatch tonight this was the 6th sighting around Shetland I think since the 1970s, and there was one in the Thames in 2018 and one in the Seine in 2019.

One of those quiz style maps, takes ages to work out what you're looking at and I still haven't!

 

[JTweedie]

One of those quiz style maps, takes ages to work out what you're looking at and I still haven't!

It's looking down on the North Pole and it shows the "approximate representation of the beluga whale's range".

 

[BriLee]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1747634950646501828

What a mega sighting this is Amazing 👏 regards Bri