{"id":757658,"date":"2026-09-02T10:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/757658\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T10:54:17","slug":"cetacean-soup-in-west-scotland-as-whale-sightings-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/757658\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Cetacean soup’ in West Scotland as whale sightings surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The National Trust for Scotland<\/a>‘s Arran Ranger Service has provided some insight into why they’ve been seeing an influx of various species of whales, dolphins and gulls in the area.\n<\/p>\n

\n Kilbrannan Sound and the Firth of Clyde have been prime spots for those on the water to catch a glimpse of fins and tails, as humpback and minke whales have been seen, as well as common dolphins.\n<\/p>\n

\n Gannets and gulls have been flocking to the area in their numbers also, and the warmer seas might have something to do with it, the rangers have revealed.\n<\/p>\n

\n The NTS Rangers on Arran look after the environment around Brodick Country Park and Goatfell.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: NTS)\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: NTS)\n<\/p>\n

\n A statement detailing the surge in sightings posted on social media read: “The past week around Arran there has been amazing sightings of humpback whales, common dolphins and minke whales.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Visitors on ferry crossings have been treated to sightings more often seen on whale tours!\n<\/p>\n

\n “So why has the Kilbrannan Sound and Firth of Clyde become like Cetacean Soup?\n<\/p>\n

\n “A clue might be in the huge rafts of gulls seen off Pirnmill, jumping fish seen from the shore, and small copepods seen from Lochranza pontoon….food!\n<\/p>\n

\n “It might be that the warmer seas this summer has resulted in more plankton, with copepods feeding on the plankton, small fish on the copepods and shoals of mackerel arriving too.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It takes a lot of fish and copepods to feed a humpback, but we have at least two feeding off Arran.\n<\/p>\n

\n “The still seas have allowed spectacular sightings with breaching whales and leaping dolphins but the most memorable thing will be the sound of the whale blows from across the water!”\n<\/p>\n

\n The team also posted various photos of the sightings, including one of a CalMac<\/a> vessel they joked had turned from a ferry trip to a whale-watching tour.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: NTS)\n<\/p>\n

\n It has been a busy year in Scotland’s waters. In May, more than 30 orcas<\/a> were spotted swimming past northern Scotland, and a few weeks later, a local cruise operator filmed a group of five killer whales<\/a> hunting common dolphins at ‘incredible speeds’ before making a successful catch near Oban.\n<\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, in April, a walrus hauled itself ashore<\/a> in Orkney for the first time in eight years, before being spotted several times along the north-east coast.\n<\/p>\n

\n Walruses are occasional visitors to UK water, with BDMLR saying sightings are increasing due to climate change in the Arctic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Trust for Scotland‘s Arran Ranger Service has provided some insight into why they’ve been seeing an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-757658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}