Sea Watch Foundation’s nine day National Whale and Dolphin Watch began on Saturday and is already revealing a wealth of whales and dolphins to be found all around the UK!

Members of the public have been sending in their reports of whales, dolphins and porpoises, collectively termed cetaceans, to inform the national survey which is now in its sixteenth year.

At the time of writing, more than one hundred records have been entered from Shetland down to Jersey and from the west coast of Wales to Whitby. It is expected that the count will rise as folks find time to enter their sightings and after dedicated watches for the creatures are completed in a myriad of locations.

It’s not too late for people to join in with the national effort to monitor whales and dolphins and the scientists behind the event are urging people to head to the coast to take part. “No experience is necessary, you just need to download a watch form from our website, record the environmental conditions every fifteen minutes and watch for at least an hour” says Kathy James, Sightings Officer for Sea Watch Foundation.

“Not all watches will result in a sighting, but actually that’s still really important information to us so just by taking part you are contributing greatly to the report we will publish” continues Kathy.

In addition, people are requested to report their casual sightings on the charity’s website.

So far, just two days in, eight different species of cetacean have been recorded during the 2017 event (harbour porpoise, common dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, white-beaked dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, pilot whale, killer whale and minke whale) and with seven more days of the survey still to go the research charity are hopeful of more to come! The highest species diversity occurred during the 2015 event when thirteen species were listed, including an arctic beluga whale seen off Northern Ireland!

The most unusual sighting so far is perhaps the fifteen pilot whales reported in the Moray Firth, north-east Scotland, which are being seen on a daily basis from land as well as by boat users. It’s thought that at least thirty animals are present in the area.

Killer whales have been a consistent presence around Shetland since early spring and have already been included in the National Whale and Dolphin Watch tally.

Observers elsewhere have been reporting on minke whales of the Yorkshire coast and bottlenose dolphins in West Wales, Tayside, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Cornwall.

Harbour porpoises have been widespread, from the Isle of Man to the north coast of Scotland, to Yorkshire , to Devon and North Wales.

All the verified sightings so far can be viewed on line (www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/nwdw-2017/) where they are updated as more reports come in.