As I reflect on this year, one of the things I’m most proud of is this!
July saw the publication of my first scientific paper, co-written with the fantastic @marinebiologylife : FIRST EVER match of a UK Humpback Whale to Arctic feeding grounds (Scotland - Svalbard, Norway). Emily & Daniel are a fab science duo and old friends of mine from University, and together we produced some great research that has been published in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records and is freely available online, just click here!
You may have seen our work covered by Em on Sky News, alongside some of the images I took of the Forth whales. The article was also picked up by a number of newspaper, and I managed to kick my anxiety in the pants and give a radio interview for BBC Scotland's Newsdrive.
Our research suggests that UK seas act as a service station for migrating humpback whales, offering these magnificent ocean giants a place to rest and feed on the long journey from their Arctic feeding grounds to their tropical breeding grounds. This publication is the result of 16 months of hard work by the 3 of us but also builds on the countless hours of dedication by the volunteer whale watchers that contributed the sightings and photos that informed this research. Without them, this publication would not have been possible. Thank you to each and every one of you 👏
UK seas are full of wildlife, so keep an eye on the waves next time you're at the coast and be sure to report any sightings to your local wildlife organisation... it might just lead to a new discovery! _ For more information, please give our paper a read… and feel free to share it around!
https://mbr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41200-019-0172-7