We are delighted to have been invited by the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust to become one of their first Corporate Partners. We are looking forward to working with HWDT in the future, and in a small way helping them to protect the seas around us. Hopefully every little bit helps.
Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust are based in Tobermory. They have a small visitor centre on the main street, and their Head Office is nearby. Their role within the Marine Conservation world is huge. The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust believe that evidence should be the foundation of effective conservation. They deliver an educational role using a beautiful boat called Silurian, as an outdoor classroom, manned by staff and volunteers. They travel the west coast talking to schools and local groups up and down the west coast. Visitors help gather and collate sightings numbers and using photography, they can identify individual animals. This is unique research in Scottish waters.
Corporate Partners
Becoming a Corporate Partner entails financial support as well as becoming in a sense ‘truer friends’. It feels like a subtle transition from having been rather passive supporters of HWDT previously, to now being more actively connected and involved.
Sightings App
HWDT have created a very useful sightings app called WhaleTrack. This makes reporting sightings easier than ever! Guests in Toechtamhor this week have been outside in the garden enjoying the weather, binoculars and telescopes primed. They told me yesterday that they had been seeing Minke whales and Harbour porpoise from the cottage! I was able to tell them about the WhaleTrack app so they can report the sightings.
Vote for the WhaleTrack app
The WhaleTrack app is a Finalist in the 2018 National Lottery Awards. The Finalists were selected from over 700 applications so they have done well to get to the finals. It would be great if they were to win!! Winning would create a huge boost to the organisation and the potential information gathering – Citizen Science at its best – if they were to win. Please vote for them here – before 27th July!
Sea watching
We are lucky at Treshnish that the cottages are all within an easy distance from the sea. You can either stand at the window and look at the sea or walk out in to the garden and see the sea. A short walk takes you to the shore with plenty of sighting opportunities! It is great because with the 3/4G signal (Vodafone and EE) here, we can immediately report sightings using the WhaleTrack app.
When the sea is calm, as it has been a lot this wonderful summer, we have enjoyed some great sea-watching. We saw a pod of 5 or 6 ‘dolphins’ 2 nights ago, at sunset, from the house. By the time we had got closer to the shore to take photographs they had disappeared round the headland though! It is pretty wonderful sitting looking at the view at sunset too.
