Dolphins Porpoise and Whales off the Yorkshire coast - talk by Stuart Baines. At The Mayfield Hotel & Pub

May 15 2024 Yorkshire’s Amazing Wildlife Coastline 15/05/24

This week the club were entertained with an extremely informative presentation by Stuart Baines, born and bred in Scarborough, on the wildlife on our own doorstep. Citizen scientist Stuart has always had an interest in Yorkshire’s coastal wildlife but over the past thirteen years he has developed a passion for the marine mammals that visit and live in the seas of his hometown – Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises.

He is a regional coordinator representing the national cetacean charity Sea Watch, covering an area from the Humber to the Tees. Stuart has links with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts on several cetacean projects, as well as the North Yorkshire-based Wild Eye nature project. He also is the editor of the very popular Scarborough Porpoise Facebook page.

He started his talk by saying that he had a tenuous link with the Cavaliers Rotary Club in that he met his wife when he was a Rotaract Member in the 1980’s. Using his extensive range of photographs and videos he described the various species of marine animals that visit and inhabit the sea around Scarborough. So what are cetaceans? Well they are Porpoises, Dolphins and Whales and he began by telling the club about Porpoises. An adult porpoise can grow to 6-foot long and are not as inquisitive as dolphins - they do not approach boats like dolphins.

Dolphins are a very different creature and extremely intelligent. The Bottlenose Dolphins that visit are shores can grow up to 12-foot long and have a distinctive beak. They group in pods that have had as many as 50 dolphins with their young calf’s. The numbers have risen rapidly over recent years and they travel down from the Scottish Coast and can be seen in North and South Bays. In 2018 only 4 sightings wee recorded, whereas last year over 400 where spotted.

Finally, Stuart had some interesting stories about whale watching, particularly around Whitby. Minke Whales are baleen whales that can grow up to 32-feet long and an adult can weigh 8 tonnes. They are sleek with a sharply pointed head and a prominent dorsal fin. Often known as Stinky Minke as their breath can smell of bad cabbage. They feed on herring and sand eels in the North Sea in the summer and tropical waters in the winter. Again their numbers have grown over recent years with 107 sightings in 2023, compared with only 14 in 2015. Last year the North Sea was especially warm and this could have been a contributory factor in the increased sights but only time will tell if this was the case or they are populating the local seas more frequently.

Other whales, such as Fin Whales the second largest whale after the Blue Whale have been seen off these shores, as too have Pilot and Humpback Whales. A Humpback was filmed breaching the waves off Whitby recently. White Beaked Dolphins and Common Dolphins are also rare visitors with the Common Dolphin not often seen in the North Sea. Basking Sharks similarly more regularly seen in the South West of England.

We do get Common and Grey Seals and we did have a very special guest at Scarborough Harbour last New Year when a Walrus dropped in to visit. Rather cumbersome on land but like a rocket in the sea he didn’t stay long in 2024 before he was off on his travels again. Stuart certainly knows his cetaceans and passed on his knowledge of where the best places are to see them locally Marine Drive, where he regularly used to travel to work in a morning and Filey Brigg, Whitby and Flamborough Head.