Rare whales caught on camera

One of the world’s rarest whales was photographed from the deck of the Celtic Mist on Sep 4.

The vessel was sailing off the edge of the Porcupine Bight, a deep-water basin southwest of Ireland. Three cetaceans passed within 50 metres of the boat. Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) experts identified them as True’s beaked whales, creatures so elusive that, prior to 1995, they were known only from dead specimens.

“With only two confirmed sightings in the wild (these) must be some of the most rarely seen animals on the planet,” says the IWDG website. It’s thought to be only the second time the species has been photographed. Nine days later, a beaked whale and her calf became stranded on St Kilda, 64km west of the Hebrides. They turned out to be Sowerby’s beaked whales. Scottish National Trust staff managed to refloat the pair but the mother died. The calf was released and swam out to sea. It’s unlikely, however, that it will survive without its mother.