Having a Whale of a Time in Fife 22nd December 2021

As has become our custom Mrs U and myself took ourselves back to Scotland for  Christmas and New Year. By way of a change we decided to forgo our traditional stay on The Isle of Arran on the west coast of Scotland and rented a cottage at a place called Lower Largo, which is on the east coast, overlooking Largo Bay which forms part of the mighty Firth of Forth.

At the beginning of December, well before we were due to head for Scotland I had become aware of reports of one or more Humpback Whales being sighted in the firth and usually favouring the Fife coast side of the firth, between Kinghorn and Burntisland, both of which are quite close to where we would be staying.Humpback Whales have become increasingly frequent around Britain with at least seventy five being seen to date, although mainly in the southwest it has to be said.

I kept a casual eye on the continuing reports of sightings and noted they were consistently coming from the Kinghorn area, right up to when we left for Scotland. Apparently the whale (currently there is only one) could be seen from land at Kinghorn which juts out into the firth. I thought it would be nice if at some time during our stay I could try and see the whale from Kinghorn but it remained low on my list of priorities, what with all the looming fuss and preparations for Christmas.

However, in the company of my daughter we found a spare hour or two to go to Kinghorn and try our luck first thing in the morning of 22nd December. The weather was typically dreary, cold, grey and misty, dreich as they say in these parts. The drive to Kinghorn was also less than inspiring as in the slowly emerging dawn we passed through the depressing surrounds of Kirkcaldy, famed for linoleum but not much else apart from its name which confusingly is pronounced 'kircoddy'.

We found a car park in Kinghorn that gave a panoramic view over the firth and I set up my scope.It was bitingly cold, positively hostile with a bitter wind blowing in off the sea and apart from a couple of dog walkers we were on our own.Needless to say there was no sign of a whale, just lines of auks and eiders flying with unknown purpose to various parts of the firth. We withstood the elements for forty or so minutes but it was a lost cause.The visibility was far from good but more to the point my fingers had lost all feeling and my body, even though wrapped in warm clothing, was numb to the core. We called it a day and returned to the welcome warmth of the car and a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast when we got home.

Sat round the table, out of casual interest I consulted my RBA (Rare Bird Alert) app and was astounded to see the whale had been seen from Kinghorn just about the time we were there but from a different location further to the east and obviously not where we had been!

These things happen and we remained philosophical.My daughter found a Facebook page  that was devoted to sightings of whales in the Firth of Forth.Simultaneously I put out a request on Twitter for any precise information as to the best place at Kinghorn to look for the whale.

I got a reply from JH telling me that there were two charter boats taking people out to see the whale each day but they were probably fully booked.Nothing ventured nothing gained I sent an email to Calypso Marine, the charter boat nearest to us, asking if by any chance they had a space available.

Almost immediately  I received an email back from Leanne saying they had a place available at 10am tomorrow 23rd December. I booked it immediately and was now getting very enthusiastic as from a boat I would be getting far better views of the whale than I could ever hope for from land.To add to my excitement Leanne told me they had found the whale every day apart from one Saturday when it was foggy.

The next morning I was early, I always am, a product of my anxious personality and I sat in my car cocooned from the depressing surrounds of a harbour devoid of life, parked amidst craters of water in the potholed hardstanding of the harbour. A guddle of abandoned yachts were haphazardly left for the winter on a patch of withered grass and rusting machinery, while the dull and rainlashed concrete arms of the harbour were populated by nothing more than an occasional grey and white Herring Gull.

Stewart and Leanne, skipper and crew of 'Pathfinder' their Calypso Marine vessel, arrived fifteen minutes before our scheduled departure at 10am, opened the gate giving access to Pathfinder and without further ado we were checked in by Leanne and boarded the boat via a somewhat treacherous metal gangplank.

Pathfinder with Sadie the Seal in attendance

All twelve of us boarded without mishap and there was just time for Leanne to give  us instructions about safety at sea and to become acquainted with  'Sadie' a tame but nevertheless wild Grey Seal and some amorous Eiders, before we moved slowly out of the harbour.

Once clear of the harbour Stewart opened up the throttle and we powered out and east into a grey expanse of sea. The occasional Guillemot and Razorbill rocketed across our bows but there was surprisingly little other birdlife to be seen apart from the obligatory gull or two.

Outward bound!

Stewart already had information as to the whale's whereabouts as land based observers earlier that morning had located the feeding whale. Unfortunately their task was made easier by the fact a RIB was already far too close to the whale and all Stewart had to do was aim for the RIB once it came into view.

On arriving in the vicinity of the RIB I got my first view of the whale as a plume of water vapour rose from the sea and dispersed on the wind.

Seconds later a short, stubby dorsal fin appeared and then more of the whale materialised above the surface in the form of a black line of upperbody running from the protective ridge of its blowhole to beyond the dorsal fin.The beast was clearly enormous and disappeared below the surface only to quickly re-appear two more times. 

Then on the fourth surfacing a  huge black expanse of body arched  up and over the waves, showing a noticeable white scar around the vestigial dorsal fin.With infinite grace the massive bulk of the whale's body curved downwards and slowly sank into the sea whilst simultaneously the tail flukes rose high and almost vertically out of the water as the whale made a head first dive into the depths.

The tail flukes dripped water, the outer edges of the flukes encrusted with what looked very like acorn barnacles, before they too slowly slid below the sea.

Impressive was hardly adequate to describe this first and unforgettable view of this huge mammal. Leanne informed us that when the whale surfaced it would always do so in a consecutive sequence of four, the first three were after shallow dives, seconds apart, where the whale would exhale spent oxygen in a cloud of vapour when it surfaced.Then would come the fouth surfacing when the whale would arch its huge body and dive vertically to feed and would remain underwater for some minutes

The routine would then be repeated after it surfaced from its deep dive.

As we came to a stop at some distance from the RIB Leanne hailed them, informing them they were too close and should move away as they were contravening both the law and the accepted guidelines for whale watching, as well as disturbing the whale's feeding by persistently circling it with their engine running. One would have hoped the occupants of the RIB would have accepted they were in  the wrong but they were not prepared to admit they were at fault and chose to argue. A short altercation ensued but the RIB finally moved away and headed for wherever they had come from. Leanne told us they were possibly in for a surprise when they reached shore as they had already been reported to the police by landbased observers that morning.

The cetaceans that now visit the Firth of Forth have created much interest and the residents on both sides of the firth feel very protective of them and do not take kindly to people who abuse the privilege.There is now a dedicated Facebook page to record observations of cetaceans in the firth.This means that unfortunate occurrences such as the one we encountered are not likely to go unnoticed or ignored which augurs well for the future.

Humpback Whales have been coming to the Firth of Forth in the winter months for a couple of years and are thought to be taking advantage of a good feeding opportunity before they migrate further north.The Humpback Whale currently in the firth is thought to be a male. Humpbacks are found in all oceans and seas around the world and typically migrate 25,000 kilometres (16,000 miles) from feeding to breeding grounds. As with all whales the human race has much to answer for as they were once hunted to the verge of extinction, their population falling by 90%. In 1966 a moratorium on whale hunting has enabled a partial recovery to around 84,000 individuals but they now have to contend with other hazards courtesy of the human race such as entanglement with fishing gear, collision with ships and noise pollution which can affect them badly and has been proved to have killed them on at least one occasion. Humpback Whales are a large whale with adults ranging in size from 12-16 metres (39-52 feet) and weigh between 28-33 tons. They have distinctively long pectoral fins and a knobbly head and each individual whale can be identified by the varying pattern of white on the underside of their tail flukes.

Once the offending RIB had departed Stewart cut the engines and we drifted silently at a respectable distance from the whale.As referred to above it is the vibration of propellers and engine noise that disturbs the whale but once the engine is silenced and the boat just drifts there is not an issue.

The whale continued to surface around us and on one occasion it surfaced close to us, so close you could hear it exhale, a hollow singing sound like someone blowing air through a pipe, which I would guess was just what it was.

Leanne informed us that our current position and that of the whale was over a trench 35 metres deep which was about the deepest part of the firth and the whales come here to feed on the sardines that are abundant here at this time of year. 

We were joined by another boat which, like us remained at a respectful distance from the whale which continued to surface, sometimes fairly close and at other times more distantly. Leanne offered us coffee or tea as we stood on the afterdeck, getting quite wet, and watched the whale as it surfaced and dived for an hour or more.

Everyone was happy with their experience and just before noon we headed back to Burntisland  and one more close encounter with  Sadie who Leanne fed with slices of fish, much to the delight of the children on board.

Despite the less than ideal weather and quite a soaking from the rain it was a heartlifting experience and for me a memorable and exciting encounter with a species of whale I had not seen before.