On the trail of the Minke

At a fairly impressive 7-10m long the Minke Whale is the smallest member of the Rorqual family of Whales, a family that includes the larger Sei Whale, the massive Fin Whale (both regularly seen in UK waters) and the truly gargantuan Blue Whale, and is the most common species of Whale seen around the UK coast.

My pre-occupation with the Minke is a relatively recent one and one born of limited opportunities, missed chances and bad timing. Like a twitcher obsessing over those unseen birds, the Minke became a bogey species, a ‘you should have been here yesterday’ sort of cetacean!

As you can imagine living in Derby leaves little opportunity for sea watching and whilst we have many wonderful species in the County, marine mammals are in very short supply, so opportunities are limited to the occasional trip to the coast and holiday boat trips.

The first of these was many years ago now with a wonderful Whale and Dolphin trip out of St David’s where the Cetaceans were laying low but the shear numbers of Gannets and Shearwaters removed any disappointment. A repeat trip several years later scored heavy on Dolphins – with dozens of Common Dolphins hunting and accompanying the boat – but their larger cousins were once again absent. Mull beckoned next and a fabulous boat trip out of Tobermory and a very close shave off the Cairns of Coll. The shout went up from the other side of the boat and a lucky half dozen spotted a Whale in its final surface before a deep dive, the boat was stopped and eager eyes gave a 360 degree look out – several minutes passed but ended in disappointment for most on the boat as the Minke failed to reappear. A pod of delightful Bottlenose Dolphins playing and breaching near the boat on our return went a good way to alleviating the Minke blues.

2021 brought two bites at the cherry, surely this would be the year?! Another family holiday to Mull, another boat grip out of Tobermory (with the same brilliant tour operator) – this time Harbour Porpoise were spotted and sea birds delighted (Storm Petrel and dark morph Arctic Skua anyone?) but no Basking Sharks and once again no Whales! So that brings us to last Saturday and my latest attempt in a new location.

I have a real soft spot for the Yorkshire coast. It’s bird rich cliffs and headlands are well visited but what is less well known is the richness of life offshore, this in turn brings in the Marine Megafauna – like Seals, Poropoise, Dolphins and Whales to these feeding grounds. As a Christmas present to ourselves we had booked an all day Whale and Seabird watching trip out of Staithes and after a short and enjoyable walk along the nearby headlands with our excellent guide, we boarded the boat for the main event. Our Skipper had been mapping the Whale hotspots from previous trips and knew that most sightings were taking place in two bands (3-4 miles out and 8-10 miles out) where the Herring shoals were at their densest. Cruising into the first band we encountered some wonderful seabirds with a plenty of Fulmars, a couple of Bonxies (Great Skua) on the prowl for an unwary Kittiwake and only my second ever Sooty Shearwater which gave amazing views as it glided towards then over the boat – Wow! But no cetaceans or large congregations of feeding birds and as we continued out to the 2nd band some 10 miles from shore the situation remained the same – very quiet…

With no sightings the skipper took us back in towards the nearest band and assured us that there was still plenty of time, but as the seabirds stayed aloof – my heart began to sink. Everything changed when we were around 6 miles out, gazing forward I had a sudden view of an arched back and prominent dorsal fin around 30-40m away. Calling it out the boat stopped and more eyes peered out in the direction I pointed – a second rise, this time end on to the boat was spotted by myself and my son, before the crowning glory – as the Minke’s long back appeared parallel to the boat (the skipper remarking that he saw the blow as it can up), cutting through the water before arching sharply, the (remarkably large) dorsal fin at the peak clear for all to see before it dove down – laughter, smiles and nearly a few tears – our first Minke! What a beast, a leviathon much bigger than I expected (‘only a juvenile so not fully grown’ was a bit of a reality check from the Skipper – big enough for me though!). Like the Coll Whale this was the deeper dive of a animal travelling between feeding areas and despite our best efforts we couldn’t relocate it.

Sometimes nature doesn’t make it easy but it’s all the sweeter when time and perseverance pays off!