Common Dolphin Pod
This week, Wildlife Matters sets off in search of some beautiful wild mammals that are rarely seen by most of us. They are not all rare, although more about that later, and they are not nocturnal. So, what are these elusive wild mammals, and where do they live? We began searching for the dolphins and Porpoises you can find in Britain’s seas.
This article has taken around 15 months to make as some of these wild mammals are migrating, and all of them can appear in multiple places around the whole coastline of the British Isles.
So, we had to put in the time and miles to gather the information and see these incredible wild mammals in their wild habitat.
Was it worth it? Yes, most definitely, as this is a very unique experience, and the sense of adventure prevails throughout.
So, after giving you some idea of what goes into making an episode of the Wildlife Matters podcast, let’s tell you now that we are about to set off on our latest adventure in search of the UK dolphins and Porpoises.
The species most commonly sighted around the UK coast are bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises.
The primary native populations of bottlenose dolphins are found in Cardigan Bay in Wales and the Moray Firth in Scotland, although smaller groups or individuals may be seen almost anywhere.
Harbour Porpoise
Harbour Porpoise
Harbour porpoises are small and shy but found around most of the UK coastline.
You can expect to see harbour porpoises in most coastal areas, especially on the west coasts, although the species is relatively absent from the south coast and the English Channel.
The morphology of a harbour porpoise is very similar to that of a bottlenose dolphin, with its dark grey colouring and smooth, streamlined body; many porpoises are mistaken for bottlenose dolphins. However, several vital morphological indicators can be used to distinguish between the two species.
The harbour porpoise, with an average length of 1.3-1.5 metres, is much smaller than the bottlenose dolphin, which can reach up to 4 metres. Harbour Porpoises are far less visible, and it is much harder to spot porpoises at a distance.
As mentioned, a harbour porpoise resembles a bottlenose dolphin with its dark grey colouring and streamlined body.
The key difference to look for is the dorsal fin. The Harbour Porpoise’s fin is triangular and much smaller than that of other dolphin species.
This low-profile dorsal fin makes it challenging to spot harbour porpoises in rough seas, but it is one of the species most distinguishing characteristics.
While many dolphin species, such as the common or bottlenose Dolphin, have conical-shaped heads and well-developed beaks, a harbour porpoise head is far more rounded and has a small beak.
Watching and observing behaviour can also help you identify a Harbour Porpoise from its Dolphin cousins.
Porpoises have perfected the art of maintaining a low profile when surfacing and are known to avoid boats actively, making them tricky to find.
You may be lucky enough to spot them from the shore, but we took a four-hour boat trip to a known area near Cardigan Bay.
After switching the boat engine off and drifting on the anchor for some time, we were rewarded with some stunning sightings of Harbour porpoises going about their everyday business of feeding and exploring their area.
Once you have watched them for a while, they are distinguishable from their Dolphin cousins, but they are noticeably smaller.
Their rounded heads and short beaks can easily be identified in the water.
So there you go, the harbour porpoise, the smaller, shyer, but equally wonderful cousin of our native dolphins.
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins are known as the gymnasts of the sea. They seem to relish full-body breaches and love to leap high above the water’s surface. They are spectacular, and I am in awe of their speed, strength, and agility.
Bottlenose dolphins are also known for approaching boats and seem to enjoy a bit of bow wave riding – just for fun!
We were on a charter boat trip that had travelled for around twenty minutes out to sea off the Welsh coast. The day was bright and clear, and the sun had just crept above the horizon, which seemed a long way behind us.
My first sighting was of a pod of Bottlenose dolphins, maybe a kilometre from our boat.
Within moments, though, they were alongside us and immediately enjoying riding the bow waves of the boat. The Skipper duly obliged and opened the throttle, and the dolphins responded.
Their speed and grace through the water were beautiful and engaging to watch.
After admiring these beautiful animals’ speed, power, and agility, my first impression was their size. They were much larger than I had imagined.
They were two to around four metres long and could weigh up to 500 kg, which takes a lot of muscle to throw a body that size and weight several metres out of the water!
Sitting immediately behind the small cabin, I saw the Bottlenose dolphin bow riding within arm’s length of me.
I could see the hooked dorsal fin, or, more correctly, a falcate-shaped dorsal fin with a dark grey back and sides.
Dolphins are muscle-packed with robust heads and taught sleek body shapes.
I took time to look at their heads and faces. The beak was shorter than I had imagined, with the lower jaw area being noticeably paler – a sort of creamy white colour – than the dark grey top of the beak.
I hadn’t expected to make eye contact with one of the dolphins, but as I looked at the bowrider’s dark eyes, set within its dark grey head, I saw the pupils move, and for a split second, we looked into each other’s eyes.
A connection was made that is hard to explain but was very similar to an experience I had a few years ago when I was fortunate to meet a young elephant at a sanctuary in Kenya that I had previously met as an orphaned baby a few years before.
As a newly orphaned baby, I helped to feed and establish a daily routine with the keepers of walks, mud baths, and feeding times. We spent around a month together.
Four years later, I returned to the sanctuary and was taken off my feet when this young elephant, now a young adult with its shoulders at roughly my head height, recognised me and gave me a playful shove to say hello.
Once I regained some composure, the elephant looked deep into my eyes, which was a moment that bonded us forever.
Despite living on different continents, I now know she lives wild and away from the sanctuary. She returned in 2022 to show the keepers and team her new calf. I wish I could have seen her proudly displaying her new calf.
Back to the fantastic Bottlenose dolphin that had prompted this trip down memory lane.
Its mouth fascinated me – I could see the curve of the mouth below the short – bottlenosed beak – and it looked like it was smiling at me.
I know this is the shape of their mouths and that this is a common mistake made by people who saw dolphin shows before they realised just how wrong keeping dolphins, or indeed any animals, in captivity for so-called human entertainment. The most repeated comment I got was always, but the dolphins were happy because they were smiling.
Bottlenose dolphins are social creatures that travel in groups called pods. These pods will have around twenty individuals who will live, play, and hunt together while working together to raise young dolphin calves and help each other,” the very essence of a community.
Bottlenose dolphins are super swimmers; gliding through the water, they use their dorsal fin, powerful tails, and pointed flippers to achieve speeds over 30 km an hour, around 20mph, and can dive as deep as 250m below the surface!
After riding the bow wave for maybe twenty minutes or more, some of the pod members decided to put on a spectacular display known as breaching. If you have never seen a dolphin breach, I urge you to put it on your bucket list of things to do. It is utterly spectacular and almost impossible to describe with words!
Imagine sitting on a 15-metre-long boat around 10 miles from the land—a little out of your comfort zone.
You have a pod of around twenty dolphins interacting with you and the small crew of the boat.
Each Dolphin is around a third of the length of the boat and weighs up to 500kg – that’s around 70 stone – probably more than the four of us on the boat’s combined weight when suddenly they launch themselves out of the water – two or three metres out of the water and then another and another and another – until you have the most incredible spectacle of maybe ten or more dolphins leaping clear of the water – that’s 5 metres plus before crashing back and making an enormous – splash!
Now repeat that every few seconds for about ten minutes – Mind blown!
I don’t think we know why the dolphin’s breach, although there are several theories” It could be to get a better view of things in the distance, to clean parasites off their bodies, or to communicate with other pods. However, I prefer the theory that they do it just for fun!
Although they live underwater, the bottlenose dolphin must reach the surface to breathe air. It breathes through a blowhole, an open hole on the top of the head.
The Dolphin can open this hole when inhaling and exhaling out of the water and close it when below the ocean surface. They can hold their breath underwater for around seven minutes.
The other thing I was not expecting was the sound:” Bottlenose dolphins are the masters of communication. They send each other messages in different ways.” They squeak and whistle and also use body language, such as leaping out of the water, snapping their jaws, and even butting heads!
These magnificent mammals also produce high-pitched clicks called echolocation to navigate and find food.
When the clicking sounds hit an object in the water, such as a fish, the sound bounces back to the Dolphin as echoes. From this, the dolphins can determine the object’s location, size and shape.
Bottlenose dolphins are Carnivores and eat mostly fish and crustaceans such as shrimp and squid.
Bottlenose dolphins are not considered endangered. However, illegal hunting, getting caught in fishing nets, and pollution threaten these incredible creatures.
Common Dolphins
Common Dolphin
The common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) seen in Britain’s coastal waters is the short-beaked species.
Further south in equatorial waters, the long-beaked common Dolphin (Delphinus capensis) predominates. Until 1994, the two were considered to be a single species.
We were back off the south coast of Wales on another boat charter, this time in search of Common Dolphins.
It was another bright but early morning start in late summer, and I was excited and anticipating a great day watching common dolphins.
The Skipper told me they had seen two large pods yesterday and were confident they would be in the area for a few more days, so seeing the common Dolphin today looked promising.
And he was right. We had travelled westward out to sea, but after around 40 minutes, we turned and began to head south, and within minutes, we were surrounded by a large pod of common dolphins.
My first impression was that they were much smaller than the Bottlenose dolphins, and although I knew this, it surprised me.
The common Dolphin is around half the size of a Bottlenose dolphin at around two to two and a half metres long. Some young dolphins in the group were under a metre long.
Common dolphins’ tan, almost yellowish hourglass pattern is on their lower flanks.
Their Dorsal is centrally placed and sickle-shaped, much thinner than a bottlenose dolphin, and they have a distinct dorsal groove along the slender beak.
Sexual dimorphism in cetacean species is subtle, and the common Dolphin is no exception. Females have mammary slits on either side of the genital slit, all of which are on the underside of the body, and these are absent in the males, although you will not be able to identify the sex of the Dolphin from sitting on a boat! The only exception to this is that adolescent males often form their pods.
Common dolphins are always found in saline water, usually in the ocean rather than estuaries.
We know very little about Dolphin reproduction, but like other cetaceans, the common Dolphin typically produces a single calf.
The calves are often born when food is abundant between April and September to sustain the lactating mother. Females generally lactate for ten months after the birth of the calf.
Mothers have been observed using their beaks to nudge their newborn calves to the surface for their first couple of breaths.
Common dolphins may live for up to 25 years, and I was fascinated to learn that this is estimated by sectioning teeth with annual growth rings of dentine, which is pretty much the same as counting the rings on trees.
Common dolphins hunt as a group, working together to school their prey into bait balls. These bait balls are generally fish or squid, the common dolphin’s main diet.
Their only natural predator in UK waters is the orca. However, the local group told me that they know that attacks by bottlenose dolphins are becoming more prevalent, but there are no known reasons and little evidence to support this.
They suspect human impacts, including pollution, reduced prey stock due to overfishing, entanglement in fishing nets, and increased noise in the marine environment. Bycatch is of significant concern in coastal waters, and several mitigation measures are being tested nationwide.
Risso Dolphin
Around now, You may be wondering how it took so long for this adventure to come together, as everything appears to have been pretty straightforward.
Well, here is where we found things much more challenging to find.
After several trips out around the south and north coast of Wales without any sightings, I finally decided to change locations and make my way up to the west coast of Scotland.
I was advised to head for the islands to spot the elusive dolphin species I was searching for; some said the Isle of Man, and most said the Outer Hebrides.
Then I spoke to a friend who founded a cetacean rescue. He agreed to help once he returned from Asia, where he now spends around six months every year, before returning to the UK and rescuing cetaceans. What a life he has made for himself.
As arranged, we met up on the west coast of Scotland and set off in his RIB, which was incredibly fast and very small compared to my previous trip boats.
We were off in search of Risso Dolphins.
Risso dolphins are very different from the other species I had seen previously. Firstly, they are a deep-water species with an appearance and colour not too dissimilar to a minke whale.
They are widespread around the world.
Risso’s dolphins can be found throughout temperate and tropical waters, ranging from Newfoundland, the Gulf of Alaska, and the North Sea south towards South America, Southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Risso’s dolphins are also found in several partially enclosed waters, including the Red Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mediterranean Sea.
Risso prefers deep offshore waters. It is found along the west coast of the UK and travels in pods of ten to thirty individuals.
An adult Risso can be around four metres long. The most distinctive thing is their colour, which ranges from dark grey in juveniles and fades to a creamy white in older animals.
After reaching our chosen area, we cut the boat’s engine and waited. Although the sea was calm and it was a warm day, the small, open RIB felt very exposed.
After a good couple of hours, I got the shout I had been waiting for. A small pod of Risso’s were breaking the surface about a mile from the boat.
We decided to move closer, moving at a steady speed and never getting closer to a couple hundred metres. We respect all wild animals, always give them space, and only ever interact if the wild animal initiates the interaction.
So we cruised slowly in a grid-style pattern, and after a very short while, the Rissos showed their natural curiosity, and they decided to come and check us out.
Risso’s are distinctly different from any of the dolphin species I have seen to date. Firstly, this pod of around twelve individuals was still young, primarily dark grey but with white markings running the length of their bodies.
Some of the pods had small circular white marks whilst others had long white stripes, which were so distinctive they reminded me of a tiger’s stripes.
I’m told these are scares, and whilst it appears no one knows, the thoughts are that these are scares picked up from play and interaction with other pod members, and possibly some are from hunting.
The other thing you immediately notice is their rounded head and lack of beak. They look much more like small whales than dolphins.
Their distinctive dorsal fin is much taller than the other species I have seen, steeply raked, and hook-like, reminiscent of a sickle.
Another thing that struck me was the length of their flippers, which were considerably more prominent than the other species.
Risso Dolphins are highly mobile, regularly covering large areas. This is probably related to the movement of their prey species, primarily squid and octopus, although they will also take cuttlefish and a range of fish species.
In keeping with their transitory lifestyle, this small pod of Rissos spent around twenty minutes with us before diving and disappearing in search of their next adventure.
White Beaked Dolphin
With one more dolphin species to find and the offer from the same friend to take me out in search of them when the time was right, I waited in anticipation. He returned to Asia and the UK for another season of cetacean rescue.
My friend’s rescue is based on the east coast of Scotland, an area I do not know well, so this would be a new adventure on new ground.
Finally, after many months, the time has arrived to search for the white-beaked Dolphin.
They are classified as occasional visitors to UK waters and not as natives.
Our boat was larger this time, with a cabin area, and the North Sea was pretty rough as we set off.
The wind was dropping, and the peaks of the waves were getting lower, which speeded up our progress and made me feel far happier and more comfortable. Fortunately, I do not suffer from seasickness.
We travelled for around four hours before reaching the survey area, where we were soon rewarded with seeing a pod of white-beaked dolphins.
My first impression was that the white-beaked are well-named. The lip and beak are white, with a large grey area at the tip of the lower jaw. The blowhole is surrounded by a dark grey patch that is almost circular.
They are large dolphins and very robust looking with a tall, falcate dorsal fin. Its pectoral fins are also large and broad with pointed tips. Their tails are short and stocky.
They have a very distinctive colouration. The dorsal and lateral fins are dark, almost black, and the underside is white and extends to the base of the tail.
Their sides have white to grey markings with an elongated white blaze above the flipper extending along the flanks and over the back behind the dorsal fin; some had black streaks on their flanks.
I was told that they are fast and powerful swimmers who sometimes bow-ride, usually with fast-moving, larger boats, but we didn’t see that today.
What we did witness today, though, was much more exciting.
White-beaked dolphins have been observed using fish herding techniques.
These include small groups of dolphins converging in an area, gathering the fish in the process using echelon formation, moving in the direction of a small group of dolphins to trap the fish, and rushing to the surface all lined up as a group.
This behaviour is in contrast to other dolphin species that converge to trap the fish. The herding panics the fish, causing them to scatter and making them easy prey for the dolphins.
Herding fish in this manner requires a highly cooperative, synchronised series of dives, surface rushes, and re-grouping.
Individuals may communicate with others in the group and corral fish using whistles, breaches, tail slaps, and somersaults.
The white-beaked dolphin has been reported in large schools, with up to several hundred individuals in the eastern Atlantic, but mainly occurs in smaller schools in the western Atlantic.
In UK waters, most sightings are of groups of less than ten animals, although larger pods have been recorded.
More data is needed to understand the migration of white-beaked dolphins better. However, some north-south movements likely occur between summer and winter.
White-beaked dolphins can be found in coastal areas of northern Britain all year round.
We began by discussing conservation concerns for dolphin species. While most dolphin species in the northern hemisphere are not of any conservation concern, there are still common problems that reduce their numbers.
The primary threats to all dolphin species in UK waters are:
Bycatch in fishing nets.
Pollution of their habitat with chemicals.
Climate change and its repercussions on the ocean conditions.
Mass dolphin stranding.
Wildlife Matters will collaborate with groups and organisations working to protect sea mammals or cetaceans.
The species featured in this article can all be found around the coastline of Britain, but we are also planning an even more ambitious adventure to find the whale species and cetaceans that are resident or migratory and can be found in our coastal waters.
This article was nearly fifteen months in the making, and we couldn’t have produced it without the help of some experienced cetacean rescue groups, local groups, and commercial boat skippers with a passion for wildlife. We thank you all.
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Further Reading
Which Dolphin’s live in UK Waters – Whale and Dolphin Conservation
Whales and Dolphins in British Seas – British Marine Life
Marine Mammals – Wildlife Trusts
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