Thursday 22nd May

We had some wonderful encounters with Risso’s dolphins on this morning’s four hour trip. We saw them a few times over the course of the morning, firstly a group of seven or so and later on a pod of four. It can be difficult to tell how many there are with Risso’s because they can dive for a long time, and tend to separate out from one another. However a couple in particular came very close to the boat. It tends to be juveniles who are more curious and interactive, while the adults mostly remain more standoffish (though not always).

As ever it’s really important to say that extra care is needed around this species, as they are shy and easily disturbed. Moreover during the mornings they are often resting after a night spent hunting cephalopods (round here that’s cuttlefish), and they might be logging motionless at the surface for periods of time. Collisions with boats do sometimes happen if the skipper of the boat isn’t paying enough attention. If everyone takes care we can all get great views of this wonderful species of dolphin.