Ísbjörn (Ice Bear)

“The awe one feels in an encounter with a polar bear is, in part, simple admiration for the mechanisms of survival it routinely employs to go on living in an environment that would defeat us in a few days” - Barry Lopez

Recently back from tour-leading in the high Arctic of Spitsbergen (and Dylan was also there in June), our many encounters with Polar Bears inevitably made a huge impression upon us both – to say nothing of the land on which they ceaselessly wander. For me, three days spent negotiating the seemingly-endless pack ice was a reminder that “scarcely a substance on earth is so tractable, so unexpectedly complicated, so deceptively passive, as sea ice." This photo is of a male bear out hunting on the frozen sea near Kong Karl’s Land, where there’s the greatest density of denning Polar Bears on the planet, a simple image that reinforces the notion that we can scarcely comprehend the world of the Polar Bear: the patience; the loneliness; the attentiveness; and the power. Just as with the Blue Whales of Baja California, or the herds of Common Dolphins in Spain, we scratch the surface, gaze in wonder, peer through a keyhole to catch an incomplete glimpse of their lives.

“For the animals shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear - Henry Beston

Biscay 'Big Whale Watch' 28-30 Sept

A beautiful sunrise could be just what you need if you too are feeling the blues in our damp British summer, and this photo, taken by Dylan, see’s the sun beginning to shine on the Bay of Biscay.

Biscay seem relevant since we’ve an exciting whalewatching trip there at the end of September (our ‘Big Whale Watch’ on 28th-30th September to be precise) as part of our new partnership with Brittany Ferries and the charity ORCA (Organisation Cetacea). We’ll be looking out for whales & dolphins – there should be hundreds of sightings - on our end of summer trip across the Bay aboard Brittany’s flagship cruise-ferry Pont Aven, and it only costs from £99 per person, with ORCA benefitting from every booking www.brittanyferries.com/whale 0871 244 9441. The photo could be a metaphor too, as that sunrise heralds the first event too for our re-launch as Planet Whale http://www.planetwhale.com/Bay%20of%20Biscay.html

Finally, we’ll soon be appearing live at our nation’s greatest gathering of wildlife enthusiasts – the British Birdwatching Fair. On Friday at 2.00pm hear Dylan talk about UK dolphins, on Saturday at 4.30pm Ian brings Baja California to life, and on Sunday at 10.30am you can learn all about the Bay of Biscay. We’ll be the good looking ones (!) on the ORCA stand in Marquee 1, stand 32 and there will be Dylan book signings, interactive workshops, and celebrity appearances . . . Chris Packham of BBC ‘Inside Out’ will about (and we’re delighted that he’s agreed to become a new patron of ORCA!). Can’t wait.

a new heavenly body - Planet Whale

Bigger than ever, we’re re-jigging and re-branding! Riding the wave of positive feedback from you, plus the interest shown by the wider world, Planet Whale is the name that will be taking us (the company formerly-known-as ‘As Nature Intended’) to another level. We’ve exciting new plans and projects in the pipeline, to say nothing of our already-popular tours to Baja California and beyond, so stay in orbit to receive further communications . . . “Houston, we have lift off”.

from the deep

It’s the largest species on our planet - a Blue Whale of course - rising from the deep, taken by Ian aboard ‘Searcher’ in Baja California earlier this year, and is the perfect accompaniment to this piece by Captain Art Taylor. His summary of some last days of their 2008 Baja whale-watching season oozes excitement, but also captures the thrill he and Celia still have nearly 30 years on from their first visit. Enjoy . . .

“Saturday - after lunch near San Jose we went a short distance and started to see Blue Whales. We saw surface-feeding up close, flukes and all-in-all, we saw about 30 in a 4-hour period - most of them were in a 4-mile area. We went further north and west and came across a mega herd of Long-beaked Common Dolphin - I would guess about 4000 to 5000 animals - a great way to end the day, so we stayed with them until dark.

Tuesday - three different species of dolphin today: Short-beaked Common; Pacific White-sided; and Risso's. The birding was great with the highlight being a very close look at a Red-billed Tropicbird that almost landed onboard - what a beautiful bird! There was a lot to look at in the morning and right after lunch, the afternoon was a little slower but we did see Black-footed Albatross.

Wednesday - today we awoke to a large herd (20-30 animals) of Sperm Whales, just north-west of Isla San Benito. We were able to stay with them for over an hour and a half, with whales at the surface the entire time, and one part of the group had at least two calves in attendance. It was good to see classic Sperm Whale behaviour with a surface group all in a line - 15 whales at the surface at once - blowing over and over again! Everyone got great photos of them. After leaving them we encountered a large Fin Whale who acted very curious and stayed within 50 feet of the boat, surfacing often and making for a great photo op.

Friday - our final day in Laguna San Ignacio of the 2008 season was a great one. We started with a beach walk and a trip to the mangroves, since we had some wind and it wasn't possible to watch whales. We returned to the boat and found a Gray Whale cow and calf pair had found Searcher and seemed to like the anchor line! It is always fascinating to me what attracts these whales to the Searcher and have them hang around for hours at times - it’s a great opportunity to photograph them from the deck with the elevation above the water. After a quick break we went out whale watching. There were plenty of friendly encounters had by all three pangas, and both Celia and I had a chance to pet a calf and a cow. We returned to the boat for lunch and another quick break and then back out to visit the whales.”

A date for your diary - Ian will be talking about Baja Blue Whales at the British Birdwatching Fair in Lecture Marquee One on Saturday 16th August at 4.30pm http://www.birdfair.org.uk/ and of course we’ll be cruising these waters ourselves again in late March 2009.

Rocky Balboa

This month’s photo, taken by Dylan, shows a male Cuvier’s Beaked Whale which was one of the highlights of my recent trip across the Bay of Biscay on a Brittany Ferries mini-cruise on behalf of ORCA (Organisation Cetacea) www.orcaweb.org.uk.

Now, get your spotting eyes on and look closely. It’s a weird looking animal, but small ivory-coloured teeth are (just!) visible at the top of the head, and of course you can see a lot of scarring. Adult males have a pair of teeth that protrude from the tip of the lower jaw and are usually covered in scars from the teeth of other males – perhaps as they battle for right to the females. This seasoned male was eloquently described to me by Dylan as “the Rocky Balboa of Biscay”.

Cuvier's Beaked Whale has been seen throughout the deep waters of the Bay of Biscay, with the majority of records coming from the deep water canyons of the Southern Bay. Single mothers with young calves have been recorded on two occasions, suggesting that the area may be a calving ground, and inquisitive animals have been recorded many times, often surfacing very close by, logging or moving slowly within a few tens of metres of ferries.

Beaked whales are one of the most specialised and least understood of all the mammals. The world they inhabit is at the edge of our understanding, even in the 21st century it remains almost universally beyond our reach. To ‘feel’ like a beaked whale take a deep breath (you’re going to hold it for an hour!) and plunge 900 meters down. By the time you get to the bottom, in a deep valley or hovering off the edge of a cliff, it’s inky black, but projecting a beam of sound ahead of you like a torch, you set off into the darkness, waiting for an echo. Still holding your breath (!), you chase fish and squid, which can fly through these dark depths with all the speed, skill and control of swifts and swallows. You are so far down that the human body would be crushed instantly by pressure - 102 kg pressing down on every cm2 of your body. Next time you are in a supermarket pick up a kilo of sugar and do the maths!

ORCA has a great website full of information at www.beakedwhaleresource.com and Cuvier’s Beaked Whale is one of the best beaked whale candidates for study as it can be found regularly in certain specific areas and has distinctive scarring and colouration. It is also a species for which there are growing concerns about the effects of high intensity industrial sounds; naval exercises have been implicated in the stranding of this species in several parts of its range, making long time studies all the more important.

In the coming year, Dylan and I will be travelling and guiding tours regularly from Plymouth and across the Bay of Biscay – watch this space for more details – and we’ll be giving talks about it too. Why not come and hear at this year’s British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water 15-17 August? The biggest event of its kind anywhere www.birdfair.org.uk , it’s a three day celebration of all things wildlife and we shall be lecturing on all three days – including about those wonders of Biscay.

play misty for me!

Dylan is, of course, famous! Author - working with a great team - of numerous books on whales and dolphins (for just a glimpse check out http://www.cetaceapublishing.com/m/ plus Amazon too http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whales-Dolphins-North-American-Pacificn-Pacific + www.amazon.co.uk/Whales-Dolphins-European-Atlantic-Guides !!). He also writes a regular column for the Civil Service magazine, 'Motoring & Leisure' too, and this article on his travels in Nova Scotia featured recently.

"Talking to the Canadians who live on the Digby Neck peninsula, one of the first things that struck me was that they love their country and they want you to love it too! And after one trip with Freeport Whale and Seabird Tours, I did! But before I take you out on the water, it’s worth paying some attention to this enchanting part

of Nova Scotia.

Half way down the west coast of Nova Scotia a narrow peninsula breaks away and curves out, like a spine, into the vast Bay of Fundy. Digby Neck is a forty kilometre long rural backwater, interspersed with a few villages, each with quaint names such as Mink Cove, Little River, and, at the very end of ‘the Neck’, Freeport. Freeport

is a tiny place, with just enough room between

the forest and the sea to squeeze in a few houses, a restaurant and a ferry terminal.

A working fishing village and small-time tourist destination, Freeport is such a friendly and welcoming place that, once you have taken

maple syrup and pancakes at your B&B and chatted to folk in the shop or restaurant, you feel part of the Freeport family! For the intrepid tourist, Freeport and its neighbouring villages offer peace and tranquillity in abundance, with bird watching, beach combing, hiking trails, botany, and whale watching the most popular ways to fill the day. And if it’s the whales you are after, the first port of call is Freeport Whale and Seabird Tours!

Freeport Whale and Seabird Tours is a small family-run business owned by skipper Timothy Crocker and his wife Karen, who also, conveniently, have an office in Tim’s sister’s delightful little restaurant, ‘Lavena’s Catch’. This is the perfect place to spend an afternoon sitting out on the balcony, eating seafood chowder, drinking ‘real’ coffee, and taking in the scenery.

They say that tide and time wait for no man, and this is certainly true here. With a world record-breaking 17 metre tidal range, the entire shape of the coastline around Freeport seems to be continually remoulding in front of your eyes. Oceanographers state that this is due to a unique combination of lunar pull and wave action, but the

indigenous Mi'kmaq people have a different theory.

Their folklore states that these huge tides were created by a whale splashing its tail. No wonder!

I can see two whales doing just that from my dining table outside the restaurant!

Lifting my binoculars reveals that this is a mother Humpback Whale with its calf. As I watch the two animals playing in the bay, a whale watching boat approaches. Immediately the calf begins to breach – lifting itself free of the water in a surprisingly elegant slow-motion maneuvre. I enviously ponder whether the people on the boat are getting wet as the whale crashes down on the water? Over the next few hours the whales are approached several more times, and each time the young Humpback goes on another leaping spree! It’s hard to judge whale behaviour but this youngster seems to be really enjoying itself, and I yearn to get out on the water. I tell myself that I have to be patient, as my tickets are booked for the following morning.

The next day I awoke early, opened my curtains and stared out with incredulity. There is only one thing worse than a storm for whale watching – fog! Dense, cold, pea soup; as thick as a hedge! “Fog is a big part of life around here,” said the owner of my bed and breakfast, “that’s why the local weather reports include separate ‘coastal’ and ‘inland’ forecasts.” Dejectedly I put

on some warm clothes and headed down to the quay where we were due to meet. At least skipper Tim would likely know when the weather might break.

On arrival I was surprised to see a number of people had already boarded the boat. At that moment Tim popped his head out of the wheelhouse and said, “We have a special technique for whale watching in the fog, so if you want to give it a go, jump onboard!”

We could just make out the silhouette of the lighthouse as we left port and headed out into the bay. It was cool, calm and eerily quiet. I knew that with all of his experience of tides and whales, Tim would head to the place that would give us the best chance of a sighting, but with visibility down to 50 metres could we really get a glimpse of the great leviathan? Half an hour later the boat slowed, and to my surprise Tim switched the engine off. Suddenly everything was silent, aside from the gentle lapping of waves on the boat’s hull.

It felt somehow as if we had gone back in time or to another world. It was just us and the sea, and maybe a whale? With visibility so reduced I found myself using my other senses

more acutely. Did I imagine the vague whiff of fish on the air?

I certainly didn’t imagine what came next; a loud whooshing

sound followed by a sharp intake of breath. A large whale was surfacing nearby. We heard it blow five times in all, each time sounding louder and louder, but we saw nothing.

Then everything went quiet for a few seconds, until we heard Tim shouting hysterically from the wheelhouse. “It’s under the

boat! I can see it on my echo-sounder!”

We waited, hearts in mouths for the whale to appear, but it simply remained submerged and disappeared off into the fog. Returning to port I noticed that everybody seemed strangely satisfied, and so, for that matter, was I! The atmosphere, the sounds and the close encounter had all contributed to a unique experience. I could safely say that this was the best whale watching trip I had ever taken in which I had not managed to see a whale!"

For more by Dylan check out www.csma.uk.com/magazine . . . and for more on Nova Scotia watch this space!

Baja blues

I'm life-afirmed, I'm more alive, I'm a 'wild thing' again, I'm back from Baja California . . . ok it was a week and a half ago but I've only just worked my way through the 6000 photos I took (digital photography is supposed to save time and money!). I've got it down to substantially less than that - take a look http://www.flickr.com/photos/as-nature-intended/sets/72157604160425366/ I think they're great - taken with my sexy new Lumix FZ18!

So how to summarise that Baja 'trip-of-a-lifetime' experience (yes, it really is)? I guess I'm hoping that the pics will really do that but you want a brief summing up?

Aboard Searcher we sailed from San Diego south amidst the Pacific Ocean, heading for the Baja peninsula and the waters of the Sea of Cortez. It was simply uplifting to be heading there once again (started off with some choppy weather for the first 24 hours) before we landed on San Benitos Island to look at huge male Northern Elephant Seals, nesting Ospreys galore, and Guadalupe Fur Seals (back from the brink of extinction - they seem to be more numerous than ever).

The tranquil waters of beautiful San Ignacio lagoon were always luring us southwards as we journeyed next, this stunning, almost land-locked, area where the Grey Whales have their calves, is entrancing and we had lots of emotionally-charged encounters where the whales came right up to look at us and be touched!

Between 1845-1875 the whalers killed more than 8000 whales in the sheltered calving lagoons (targeting the calves so that they could lure in the adults) and the whales had a reputation as being aggressive around small boats (shock!). In 1975 the first Gray Whale was noted approaching wary fishermen and early tourists in San Ignacio lagoon (including Art Taylor, the skipper of Searcher) and since then it’s become more and more of a phenomenon. In my experience, many of the whales appear to be intrigued by the small tourist boats in the lagoon (they are now operated by Mexican boatmen as a locally-benefiting eco-tourism initiative, financially aided by Art & Celia of Searcher) - it's as if we enliven an otherwise uneventful day, but that doesn’t explain why so often it’s the mothers that physically push their sometimes reluctant calves close to the boats. It’s almost as if they want their calves to experience an encounter with humans – it’s very special, surprisingly frequent, and the ultimate reminder that we share this world with some very BIG creatures! Laying under your tiny boat, a mighty adult whale can rear up, look you in the eye, secure - as we humans just are not - in it's watery domain, and decide that it wants to be your friend. It just doesn't get any more humbling than that.

San Ignacio lagoon was targeted by Mitsubishi as a potential salt-works and it’s said that the Mexican president brought his wife out and that they had such an encounter, which caused them to turn down the development – if only we could introduce all politicians to some emotionally-stirring, up-close, 20-metre long environmental advocates! You've all simply got to see this place in your lifetime.

Once outside the lagoon there were Bryde’s Whales plus lovely Pacific White-sided and Short-beaked Common Dolphins but, best of all, our first dozen Blue Whales. Now, as a 6-year old being taken to see the life-size replica in London's Natural History Museum, I dreamed of seeing one of these awe-inspiring giants - and I've done so now on many an occasion - yet our encounters this year were especially uplifting: many of them lifting their tail flukes into the air as they dived which is unusual, and exhilarating to watch. We saw more than 30 Blue Whales on our travels. They weigh up to 200 tonnes, have a heart the size of a VW Beetle, can grow to 100ft, have a blow 30-40ft tall, and there are only about 10-15000 in the World (for a little perspective, 330,000 were killed in the Antarctic between 1900-1970) - we owe them, and all other whales, safety in the oceans. Quite simply, they are awesome - and here that word has real meaning. And yet we know so little about them - we've still yet to learn exactly where they are, where they go, and where they give birth to their 7-metre calves.

This is where the BBC filmed Blue Whales for that astonishing intro to the Blue Planet series . . . and we saw scenes just like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YtC-VagE4Y .

Down at the southern tip of the peninsula we came across tons of Humpback Whaless and heard snatches of their enigmatic and haunting songs through the hydrophone – they were mostly busy feeding but we saw some breaches (leaps from the water), fin-slapping, and some courtship behaviour, plus there were lots of Bottlenose Dolphins buzzing between them.

Then we entered the more tropical Sea of Cortez - another chapter in our exploration. We had lots more landings here, on the peninsula and on the varied, individual islands, and ashore we caught up with some great arid-zone birds like Roadrunner, Xantu’s (endemic) and Costa’s Hummingbirds, Hooded Orioles, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Gray Thrasher (another endemic), plus the unpronouncably-named Pyrrhuloxia! There really are some captivating islands in this area, many with lots of giant Cardon cacti and unique reptiles - the region is often called Mexico's Galapagos - including a personal highlight when I found my first endemic Santa Catalina Island Rattleless Rattlesnakes amidst the Cholla cacti . . . the trick is to listen out for them!

As ever, sealife was abundant - there were Manta Rays and an astonishing gathering of about 3000 leaping Mobula Rays, plus more dolphins as well as Blue, Humpback, Gray and Bryde’s Whales. We had an incredible evening encounter with groups of blowing Fin Whales around the boat in the sunset silence, and managed some snorkelling with California Sealions – though I can still see in my mind the big bull which swam over to check me out!

That's enough for now but, re-reading this, I don't feel that I've done it justice, so why don't you just come with myself and Dylan - we're back there in March 09 - and find out for yourself why it really is one the world's 'must-vist' places.

Ian