Once again, I'm on a field trip. This time in the not so sunny Scotland. For the past week I was on the Isle of Cumbrae at Millport's marine research centre and as of yesterday, I am on the much less sunny Mull.
With two full days left, I've been spending the majority of my time on various boats, looking out across the water recording sea birds, seals and their behaviour, and other marine mammal sightings (which have unfortunately been a lot less abundant than the birds!)
When I was younger, I was obsessed with dolphins. My room in my parents house is still covered in various dolphin paraphernalia and something about the elusive and notoriously playful marine mammals fascinated me. As I've grown up, my obsession has lessened as I've found out about equally (or more) awesome animals however dolphins still trigger that initial childlike obsession.
Unfortunately, I haven't been very successful at sighting dolphins. I've seen a few porpoises (which are close enough) but the spinner dolphin our group saw earlier was on the wrong side of the boat to me and didn't hang around long enough and I was again in the wrong place when a large group of dolphins were seen from the window of the communal area. With only 2 days left, I am very much hoping I fulfil this childhood dream of seeing dolphins but I guess we shall wait and see!
Of course, the lack of dolphins does not mean I haven't had a great time. We stopped off at one of the islands with a tremendously large colony of puffins and the sight was immense. Seeing so many birds fly about in almost a swam and being able to see their behaviour up close (not too close I must add, we didn't want to disturb them!) was incredible. Hopefully I have a decent photo on my camera!
Scotland is lovely. It's nice to be back here however, after almost a month of mainly being away from home, I have to admit I am very much looking forward to going home, being able to go to church on a Sunday (rather than spending it working!!) and spending some quality time with my boyfriend.
So long blogger, I hope to see you soon.
