My Summer office

 Over the course of the year I make my way back West to Valentia island's Bray Head as soon as a decent spell of settled weather rolls in from the Atlantic, this combined with the sudden influx of large Whale activity in Dingle bay from mid-July running through to September in recent years that has been recorded from both Slea head and the Blasket islands further incentives me to intensify my efforts. This in a way dilutes the information obtained from the site as it is only consistent for some section of the year but due to the distance involved in travelling back to Valentia, I tend to go back when both of the above are in sync as it's better to observe some Cetacean activity rather than none at all!



Bray head is the western most point of Valentia island this prominent piece of landmass juts out into the North Atlantic and is flanked from the North and South by two varying seascapes, the outer Dingle bay to the North and by the highest cliffs in the county followed by the steeped sided Puffin island further out to the South. Immediately in front of the headland however is perhaps the most iconic sight in the country, the twin (although not identical!) rocky pinnacle peaks known as the Skellig islands.
 I chose Bray Head as a vantage point to spot Cetaceans because from the Southern half of Dingle bay right along the coastline until you reach West Cork there is a massive "black spot" as I call it where virtually nothing is known about the Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises that frequent and use these productive waters. There had been a few watches conducted from Bray head in the years running up to my own watches and these proved worthwhile as various species were recorded over the years even though they were not continued.

 For those of you who have never ventured up to the head, the 40 minute walk over the continuously inclined dirt road is well worth tackling as once you finally reach the Bray head tower, in my view you are rewarded with the finest view in Ireland due to the spectacular features as mentioned above.
 All of my sightings are officially validated via the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group's sighting scheme where they are put into the countries online database, by doing this I contribute some data towards a scheme that over time will allow us to piece together the movement's and uses Cetaceans have of the South-West coastline of Kerry, even though I set out deliberately to locate these marine mammals if you by chance spot what you deem to be either a Whale, Dolphin or Porpoise you can too add to our ever growing bank of information by filling out your own sighting report on the site.
I will delve into how I've located Cetaceans from land in my next post and go through why this past year has been my most productive to date.
Watch this space.
Sean