COMMENTARY CREWMAN JENNY_HAMPSON LOUIS_LABROM LOUIS_LABROM_PTC NICOLAS_HODGINS RUPERT_KIRKWOOD STEVE_BACKSHALL STEVE_BACKSHALL_PTC STEVE_TRULUCK COMMENTARY Whales… ocean giants… ancient mariners… COMMENTARY Their songs, majesty and sheer size fill us with joy and awe. COMMENTARY In their vast shadow, a human can feel very small. COMMENTARY They were here long before us… COMMENTARY Caring for their young… COMMENTARY Hunting… COMMENTARY Voyaging… COMMENTARY But now we are changing their world. COMMENTARY So now I want to see through their eyes, meeting them on their terms to find how their future and ours are inseparable. COMMENTARY I’ve dived with whales and dolphins right across the globe… COMMENTARY …and have seen just how much we’re changing their world. COMMENTARY The noise we make in our seas is drowning their voices out. COMMENTARY Modern fishing practices can deplete the food they rely on. COMMENTARY And a changing climate is forcing them into longer migrations, putting their young at risk. COMMENTARY Now I’ve come to my home seas, to find out what we can do to adapt and help ensure their future success. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC Our wild coastline is the last true wilderness in Great Britain. And to my mind, for majesty and beauty, equals anywhere on the planet. COMMENTARY It’s also a magnet for whales. COMMENTARY 28 different types have been recorded here, that’s around one third of the species in the world. COMMENTARY Some like Orca, Risso’s Dolphins and Bottlenose dolphins, live here all year round. COMMENTARY Others like Humpback Whales, Fin Whales and Sei Whales, are just passing through. COMMENTARY But the future of all of them hangs in the balance. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC The whale is considered a great conservation success story. They survived the era of commercial whaling when we slaughtered more than 3 million of them. But the return of the whale has coincided with monumental changes for our planet. COMMENTARY Threats like climate change, disturbance and pollution are altering the whale’s world faster than ever before. COMMENTARY Now, it’s time for us to act. COMMENTARY So I want to meet the people who are working hard to find solutions. COMMENTARY And to discover what we can all do to secure a brighter future for whales, and for us. COMMENTARY Our seas might be home to a huge range of whales and dolphins… COMMENTARY …but the oceans are vast, and much of whales’ lives are hidden from view. COMMENTARY Finding out how many there are and how they’re faring is an enormous challenge. COMMENTARY But there is a global hotspot for cetacean life in Scotland, so that’s where I’m starting my journey. COMMENTARY I’m joining a pioneering team of scientists who’ve perfected the art of finding whales using not just sight but sound. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC For the next few days, we’re gonna be at sea in the Silurian, a state-of-the-art research vessel which is specialising in whale acoustics. It is the perfect platform for monitoring whales in these waters. Morning you all! CREWMAN Hey, Steve. COMMENTARY Whales make all kinds of different sounds. COMMENTARY From humpback song… COMMENTARY …to the complex clicks of sperm whales. COMMENTARY And here on the Silurian, Scientist JENNY HAMPSON is using these sounds as a way of finding them. JENNY HAMPSON So this is our hydrophone, it acts as an underwater microphone and allows us to monitor the acoustic environment underneath the waves. COMMENTARY We don’t know what we’re gonna find on our 3-day journey… COMMENTARY …but it’s not long before we have our first encounter. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC We have company. A pod of common dolphins. Utterly spectacular! STEVE BACKSHALL PTC They’re set apart by the golden hourglass shape that runs down their sides and we have a decent sized pod here. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC They’re super super social. Very playful. Uber intelligent. COMMENTARY Dolphins are also the masters of communication. COMMENTARY Over 6000 kilometres away, in the Bahamas, I experienced their use of sound, first hand. COMMENTARY Freediving allowed me to enter their world as silently as possible… COMMENTARY …and hear and even feel their vocalisations. COMMENTARY Scientists here are decoding their language. COMMENTARY They’ve found that whistles are used for long distance communication… COMMENTARY …and as calls, between mothers and calves when they’re separated. COMMENTARY And burst pulses, packets of clicks spaced tightly together, tell us about the dolphin’s emotional state from aggressive to amorous. COMMENTARY As our seas become awash with man-made noise, dolphins’ intricate communications can be drowned out. COMMENTARY So it’s more important than ever that we better understand them. COMMENTARY And here on the Silurian, in Scottish seas, I want to take it a step further, by listening in to the hydrophone to hear another incredible way they use sound. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC That's so clear. Absolutely amazing. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC It's a kind of range of clicks and splats, which is echolocation. This is bio sonar, which is just a way of building up a picture of things in your world without using sight. COMMENTARY Every sound they record, helps Jenny and the team build a picture of how many whales and dolphins are in these waters. COMMENTARY Data that can be used to better protect them. COMMENTARY The study of whales and dolphins has been aided by technology, invented for military use. COMMENTARY In the 1950s, the American Navy detected a mysterious sound, a metallic-like “boing.” COMMENTARY For decades no-one could work out where it came from. COMMENTARY And it was only when scientists started to listen to the ocean that they were able to solve the mystery. COMMENTARY The source was an animal that’s found in British waters but is one of the hardest to spot. COMMENTARY The Minke whale. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC The minke whale can be really tricky to spot. They’re quick, they don’t have an evident blow or spout, and so the best way of finding them is the old fashioned way, watching out for the characteristic shape of their dorsal fin as they crest the surface. JENNY HAMPSON Behind us! STEVE BACKSHALL Oh wow, look. Just there. Very close! COMMENTARY Sleek and streamlined, minke whales can dive for up to 20 minutes, only surfacing for an instant before heading down again. COMMENTARY It’s in this fleeting moment that Jenny tries to take photographs. JENNY HAMPSON Minke whales have notches and nicks that they have in their dorsal fins that it makes it really easy to recognise individuals. Currently we've got 260 identifiable minke whales in our catalogue, and the more we see them, the more we learn. COMMENTARY During the last century, over 130,000 minke whales were killed in the North Atlantic by the whaling industry, the most of all whale species in this region. COMMENTARY Jenny’s visual IDs are an essential tool to help us find out how they’re faring now. COMMENTARY As I’ve seen, Scottish waters are a hotspot for cetaceans, but some species found here are fighting for survival. COMMENTARY My mission to reveal what we can do to help whales and dolphins thrive in the modern world has brought me to British seas. COMMENTARY With bountiful shallows and deep ocean hunting grounds, predators flock here. COMMENTARY And the most formidable… is the orca, or killer whale. COMMENTARY They’re supremely intelligent, and that means they could be well equipped to adapt in the face of manmade challenges. COMMENTARY They learn bespoke techniques for hunting different species in different parts of the world, depending on what food is available. COMMENTARY But sometimes what they hunt comes as something of a surprise. COMMENTARY While observing orca, in Northern Norway, I witnessed them targeting a very unlikely prey. STEVE BACKSHALL What, what is that? They’re hunting something. COMMENTARY These orca have turned their attention to a tiny seabird called a Little Auk. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC You can see it jumping and leaping out of the water trying to escape them and then diving down. COMMENTARY It almost looks like they’re playing with their food. COMMENTARY But there’s likely to be more to it than that. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC One suggestion is that it’s teaching their calves. So they’re learning skills that they might use in later life, on bigger more substantial prey. COMMENTARY For now though the lesson’s over and the little auk’s fate is sealed. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC Orca may appear brutal, even cruel, but that is a part of their creative and experimental way of finding food. They’re always testing the boundaries, learning and ultimately adapting. COMMENTARY But this can also lead them into harm’s way. COMMENTARY Something that can be seen in action on the Scottish Coast, where every year in early summer, groups of orca return. COMMENTARY Some are fish feeding orca, from Iceland, but once here, they switch, super-sizing their prey to seals. COMMENTARY Seals are abundant on these shores. The coves and inlets offer shelter, and beneath the surface… COMMENTARY …precious kelp forests, full of fish, provide plenty of food. COMMENTARY A place to investigate anything that catches their eye. COMMENTARY Right now, that’s me. COMMENTARY But, unfortunately for the seals, they’re a target for orca. COMMENTARY Swimming close to the shoreline, the orca search every cove. COMMENTARY Turning sideways hides their dorsal fins and allows them to approach undetected. COMMENTARY Keeping track of an agile seal is no easy task. COMMENTARY The seal is shared among the pod. But eating marine mammals has a hidden cost. COMMENTARY Chemical pollutants are causing serious problems for marine life all over the world. COMMENTARY Among the most insidious are a group known as PCBs, forever-chemicals, once used in electrical equipment. COMMENTARY Even though they were banned here in the 1980s, they’re still finding their way into our waters. COMMENTARY These chemicals travel over great distances… COMMENTARY …and concentrate as they travel up the food chain into those feeding on the largest prey, the apex predators like orca. COMMENTARY They are now one of the most polluted animals in the world. COMMENTARY Exposure to PCBs can cause a range of health problems including cancer and infertility. COMMENTARY And some scientists think that within a hundred years, these contaminants could cause half of the world’s orca populations to collapse. COMMENTARY It’s a shocking prediction and one that’s already being played out here in Scotland, with one particular group, the West Coast community. COMMENTARY Like lots of the groups found here, the West Coast community once had many members. COMMENTARY But in recent years their numbers have dwindled. COMMENTARY In 2016, the body of one of the females in the group, Lulu, was washed ashore. COMMENTARY Her autopsy revealed that she had a hundred times safe levels of PCBs, making her one of the most contaminated cetaceans ever recorded. COMMENTARY Lulu never had a calf. No calves have been born within the West Coast community for 31 years. COMMENTARY And it’s now thought that only two members of this group survive, known as John Coe and Aquarius. Both elderly males. COMMENTARY For orca enthusiast STEVE TRULUCK, it was this group’s predicament that triggered a lifelong obsession. STEVE TRULUCK I was told the story about them and I was just, yeah, just completely blown away and I just kinda made it my mission to make sure that I saw them before, before they actually go, before the last two go. COMMENTARY With a distinctive notch at the base of his dorsal fin, there’s no mistaking John Coe. COMMENTARY And after years of trying to find him, in 2019 Steve finally had his wish granted. STEVE TRULUCK It’s John Coe! That’s John Coe! See the massive nick? COMMENTARY This encounter led to Steve becoming an advocate for orca and a whale spotting guide. COMMENTARY Now he helps others experience the joy of seeing them and understand more about their plight. STEVE TRULUCK Look at that! We’ve got John Coe and Aquarius! We’ve got the ultimate next to us. This is unbelievable! What a steal! Haha, haha! STEVE TRULUCK Who wouldn’t be amazed at seeing that? It’s, it’s incredible. They’re just gorgeous. I mean they’re just, they’re just amazing animals. And yeah just, just incredible being in their presence. COMMENTARY As exhilarating as seeing them was for Steve, it’s an experience tinged with tragedy. COMMENTARY Highly polluted and with no females left to breed with, there is no way to save this group. COMMENTARY And it’s not just orca affected by chemical pollution, other top predators can succumb too. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC It's always a sad sight to see a majestic marine predator like this washed ashore. This is a Risso's dolphin. There's no obvious cause of what killed the animal but in so many places, when a top of the line predator like this washes up on shore, the levels of pollutants in their body are so high that they have to be disposed of like toxic waste. COMMENTARY The imminent demise of the West Coast community is surely proof that we have no time to lose. COMMENTARY Many countries have agreed to eliminate PCB waste, but progress is woefully slow. COMMENTARY With an ever-increasing number of new chemicals that could have yet untold consequences, it’s imperative that we prevent them from entering our oceans in the first place. COMMENTARY Only then, can we help ensure orca’s survival in our seas. COMMENTARY While Scotland’s orca are under fire, elsewhere, new revelations are giving us hope that some species may find other, extraordinary ways to succeed. COMMENTARY We’re learning all the time just how diverse our whales and dolphins are. COMMENTARY But sometimes, a discovery is made that challenges everything we thought we knew. COMMENTARY For the next part of my journey, I’m heading to the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, because the dolphins here have been spotted doing something remarkable. STEVE BACKSHALL Risso’s dolphins. Look at that! COMMENTARY Risso’s dolphins are unmistakable. They’re stocky with blunt heads and bear the crisscross of battle scars, often caused by rough and tumble with other risso’s dolphins. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC Risso’s are generally quite shy, and that makes them really difficult to study. In fact, finding out anything about their lives has been a real struggle. Luckily in the Hebrides there’s one scientist who’s made it her life’s work to get to know them. COMMENTARY NICOLAS HODGINS has spent 14 years studying Risso’s dolphins in these waters. NICOLAS HODGINS So this is definitely one of the risso’s favourite spots. They've been coming here repeatedly year after year. We're getting the same individual dolphins. It's a, a really important place for risso’s. STEVE BACKSHALL So you kind of get to know individual personalities and characters? NICOLAS HODGINS Yeah, oh absolutely yeah. Yeah. STEVE BACKSHALL And, and I guess that would mean that you would be very kind of hard wired to pick out anything unique in individual animals. NICOLAS HODGINS Indeed. Yeah. COMMENTARY In 2011, Nicola spotted something she’d never seen before. NICOLAS HODGINS We had some dolphins come in front of us, and initially we thought, trusted that they looked like risso’s dolphins. And then there was a bottlenose dolphin. And then all of a sudden there was an individual who just looked completely different to any dolphin that, that I've ever seen before and any species that we know are, are in these waters. COMMENTARY Even though it was far out at sea, Nicola managed to snap a photo of the mystery dolphin. NICOLAS HODGINS We could see this individual was much larger than a risso’s dolphin. So risso’s have got a very blunt head, they don't have a discernible beak, whereas bottlenose dolphins have a quite a discernible beak, and this individual had a, a tiny, tiny little kind of snub nose. And we just knew we had something really special. COMMENTARY What Nicola had discovered was a hybrid dolphin, produced by a bottlenose female and a risso’s male. STEVE BACKSHALL But then it goes a step weirder, right? Because if you have hybrid animals like that they're supposed to be sterile, they're not supposed to be able to breed. NICOLAS HODGINS No. Whereas we now have evidence of these hybrid dolphins actually reproducing and having young of their own. STEVE BACKSHALL Would it be too much to say that this could be evolution in action, and we could be seeing the birth of a completely new species? NICOLAS HODGINS I don't think it's too much to say that and I think a one off, you can maybe just put it down to chance, but this is a repetitive thing that's happening with multiple individuals. COMMENTARY The reasons these dolphins have hybridised aren’t yet clear, but Nicola thinks it could point to something unsettling. STEVE BACKSHALL Is there a possibility that this could be a response to larger changes in the environment? Nicola Hodgkins Absolutely. We're seeing a lot of changes in distribution of different species. STEVE BACKSHALL So possibly the waters here are no longer perfect for either risso's or bottlenose for one reason or another, but they might (Nicola – Yeah) be perfect for something that's kind of in between the two? NICOLAS HODGINS Yeah, absolutely. COMMENTARY Evidence suggests that whales and dolphins all over the world are venturing further towards the poles, and scientists think this could be down to climate change. COMMENTARY Warming oceans can radically alter whales’ habitats, pushing them into new waters, where they mix with new species. COMMENTARY There’s still much we need to learn until we can fully understand the impact of climate change. But we do know that the UK is a place where the movement of whales can be studied, because some spectacular species pass through here on their mighty migrations. COMMENTARY And when they do, local enthusiasts head out to spot them, making valuable contributions to science. COMMENTARY Some keep watch over whales from land… others take to the water. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC The sea kayak is the perfect tool for the citizen scientist so more and more members of the public armed with nothing more than a camera and a paddle, are heading out into our coastal seas and learning more about our whales and dolphins and the information they are bringing back is leading to a much greater understanding of the world of the whale. COMMENTARY In the far Southwest of Britain one local resident has been doing exactly that. COMMENTARY RUPERT KIRKWOOD has made it his life’s mission to try to get close to whales by paddling around every corner of this coastline. RUPERT KIRKWOOD I absolutely love calm water so I go to whichever beach around Devon and Cornwall is the calmest on the day, and I paddle off out to sea and may not come back for 10 or 12 hours. COMMENTARY Rupert always has his camera close at hand to capture any marine life he sees. RUPERT KIRKWOOD As I'm paddling along silently, when there's no wind, you can hear the creatures. RUPERT KIRKWOOD You can hear the tt-oo, the puff of the porpoise. You can hear the splash of dolphins. If you're really lucky, you can hear the blow of a minke whale. RUPERT KIRKWOOD I feel very honoured to be surrounded by these amazing creatures. By far and away my most um exciting encounter I have had so far is a very close meeting off the far tip of Cornwall. I heard a (blows) in the distance. So I sat actually with my camera up ready and running. Suddenly the fin of a humpback, uh the pectoral fin came out, slapped the water. RUPERT KIRKWOOD This humpback then proceeded to swim all round my kayak, engulfing these huge bait balls of fish. COMMENTARY Because humpback whales can be identified by the markings on the underside of their tail flukes, scientists were able to use Rupert’s photographs to catalogue this individual for the very first time. RUPERT KIRKWOOD It's rather nice that my humpback is now the most widely seen humpback around the UK. COMMENTARY It was also one of the first individual humpbacks to be identified in English waters but since then there have been over a hundred recorded around the United Kingdom. COMMENTARY Thanks to people like Rupert, we’re starting to learn just how important these waters might be as a stopping off point for passing migrants like humpbacks. COMMENTARY Adding to the growing evidence that these seas should have greater protection for whales. COMMENTARY Humpbacks might appear to be doing well, but there’s no doubt that our changing world is putting all our whales and dolphins under huge pressure. COMMENTARY And in the final part of my journey, I want to show how, even if you can’t venture out to sea, any one of us can still do something to help protect them. COMMENTARY I’ve seen first-hand how whales are adapting to survive in the modern world. COMMENTARY From the ways they communicate… and hunt, to the epic voyages they undertake. COMMENTARY I’ve also witnessed how we impact their world. COMMENTARY Our whaling industry nearly wiped some species out in the past, and the pollution in our seas threatens their survival in the future. COMMENTARY Now, they need our help. COMMENTARY Luckily, many people are taking notice and doing what they can. COMMENTARY And at Chanonry point in Scotland there’s a perfect spot to witness the passion people have for these animals. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC Chanonry Point is a narrow spit of land jutting out into the Moray Firth. At the exact right time of the tide salmon pour through here and the predators follow, making it the best place in the nation to see dolphins from the land. STEVE BACKSHALL Oooh! COMMENTARY These are bottlenose dolphins. Around 200 are found here in the Moray Firth, a sea inlet that fills with salmon as they run from the ocean towards neighbouring rivers. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC We have the biggest bottlenose in the world in our waters. They can be over three and a half metres in length, even getting close to four. And that is a big animal. At times they are so close, it feels like you could reach out and touch them. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC There is something so, so special about this place, having a pod of wild predators hunting mere metres away from the dog walkers and people snapping selfies, but every once in a while, you have to look back and see the human faces, see the effect that it's having on people, the sense of pure joy. And I can feel it myself. Woman Oh what! Aw! Ee-hee-hee-hee! STEVE BACKSHALL PTC It's a time when their world and ours truly meets. Not many places in the world that happens. COMMENTARY But it’s not just the public that come here, experts are also drawn to these waters in the hope of learning more. COMMENTARY Barbara Cheney specialises in monitoring bottlenose dolphins and has tracked entire dynasties in the Moray Firth. Barbara Cheney It's quite a special project here because it's one of the longest running in the world. Eh they've been studying eh the bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth since 1989 and actually we're into our fourth generation. COMMENTARY Barbara uses ground-breaking technology to assess the health of individual dolphins. COMMENTARY Her camera’s equipped with lasers which can measure the dolphins, and she sends up drones to get detailed images of their width, a great indication of how healthy they are. STEVE BACKSHALL The big goal with science is data over time. What are you starting to learn now? Barbara Cheney Although they're still a small population, there's only just over 200, um actually they're doing quite well compared to other cetacean populations around the world. So we know that the abundance has been increasing over the last three decades. We know that reproduction’s been increasing as well, so it's actually all really good news, which is great. COMMENTARY One of the reasons Barbara thinks the dolphins are doing so well here is that, thanks in part to her research, the Moray Firth has been granted extra protection for marine life. COMMENTARY That means disturbance from activities like fishing, development and boat traffic are kept to a minimum. COMMENTARY We know that when we protect areas of our ocean and create safe havens it can do wonders for whale populations around the world. COMMENTARY In New Zealand, the port of Auckland used to be a hotspot for ship strikes with whales like Bryde’s. COMMENTARY But local researchers and the government worked together to introduce lower speed limits for boats, making sure whales have time to move out of the way. COMMENTARY And in Mexico, anti-hunting laws and restrictions on fishing gear have created an ecotourism industry that sees Grey whales better protected, and now actively seeking out human contact. COMMENTARY Our individual actions can add up to make a big difference. COMMENTARY And here in Scotland, the protected waters of the Moray Firth, seem to offer the resident bottlenose everything they need. COMMENTARY But even so, they can still get into trouble. COMMENTARY During high tide, the bays are filled with water. But when the tide recedes, which it does at speed, there’s nothing but dry land. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC This expanse of sandbars and mudflats and salt marshes is Nigg Bay. It's a wonderland for birdlife and seals. And in 2016 it was the setting for a real-life dolphin drama. COMMENTARY It was here that a young female bottlenose dolphin known as Spurtle was stranded. COMMENTARY Passersby, Michael Robertson and Lorraine Culloch, were the first people to spot her. Lorraine Culloch Aw, she just looked so sad. I've never seen anything so sad. And it actually looked like it was crying. It was quite emotional. Michael Robertson I'd probably go as far as to say it was the saddest face I’d ever seen. (Lorraine – Yeah) And it was unbelievable, even looking at the photos now, and that’s awful. Lorraine Culloch Emotional. COMMENTARY She was suffering from sunburn, with the skin on her side beginning to bubble up. COMMENTARY Michael knew she needed professional help, so called the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service or BDMLR - experts in helping stranded whales and dolphins. Lorraine Culloch When the BDMLR comes they included us in the rescue. We’d monitored her breathing. But basically 14 hours we had to wait until the tide come back in, so they could refloat her. We slept in a van (Michael – Yeah) in a layby all night. COMMENTARY The next morning, when the tide eventually came back in, Spurtle was refloated. COMMENTARY It seemed unlikely she’d still have enough strength to swim. COMMENTARY But to everyone’s relief, she headed slowly out into open water. COMMENTARY There’s no doubt that Michael and Lorraine’s quick thinking and the rescue team’s dedicated care, saved her life but no one knew whether she’d survive the ordeal. COMMENTARY In the coming months and years her sunburn wound, which at first looked deadly, healed into a distinctive scar like a paint splash COMMENTARY And the best possible sign that she’s returned to full health is that she’s recently had a calf of her own. COMMENTARY Here at Chanonry Point all eyes are on the water hoping to get a glimpse of her. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC Spurtle, it's Spurtle! Oh, my gosh. I don’t believe it. The, the, well wow! Well, so we've just had a glimpse of one of the most special individual dolphins in our waters. A true tale of survival. An animal that has gone through stress and pain that it's almost impossible to imagine and is back here in front of us, alive and well. Evidence that these animals will battle against impossible odds to survive and now she’s back with a calf of her own. It just doesn’t get any better than this. COMMENTARY Whales and dolphins have the unparalleled ability to fill us with joy. COMMENTARY And my journey with them is something that will stay with me for a lifetime. COMMENTARY It’s also been a wake-up call. COMMENTARY I’ve seen how our actions are threatening their world. COMMENTARY I’ve also seen how people are doing their very best to help them. COMMENTARY Even the smallest action, be it making a phone call or reporting a sighting, can lead to meaningful change. COMMENTARY Whales are adapting as well as they can, now we need to adapt, and fast, if we’re to give them, and us, a brighter future. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC They've been around for 50 million years and they could be around for 50 million more. But only if we ensure the health of their seas. COMMENTARY To capture the astonishing diversity of whales that are in British waters, we took to land, sea and air. COMMENTARY But when it came to tracking Orca, we knew we’d have our work cut out. COMMENTARY These incredible predators roam up to 160 kilometres a day in the search for food. COMMENTARY So for our wildlife cameraman LOUIS LABROM, pinpointing their location was to be no easy task. LOUIS LABROM PTC The challenge we’ve set ourselves is quite tricky where do we go, where’s the best spot, where are they gonna come to. It’s a difficult challenge. COMMENTARY Luckily, we weren’t doing it on our own. COMMENTARY We were joining a network of around 200 volunteers, including local people and those taking part in a Citizen Science event called Orca Watch. COMMENTARY They record any orca they see, giving us some idea of how they’re faring here. STEVE TRULUCK These are his photos from 2 kilometres away. COMMENTARY Orca enthusiast STEVE TRULUCK was also on hand. STEVE TRULUCK But the whole thing is you have to be in it for the long game and you have to wait. COMMENTARY With the whole of the Caithness coast and the northern isles to cover, the volunteers face a daunting task. COMMENTARY Luckily, the landscape gives them a helping hand. STEVE BACKSHALL PTC There are some parts of the coastline here that almost appear to be natural lookout posts. Any orca coming, you can see it from miles away. STEVE TRULUCK You’ve got a cracking view here of everywhere. You can actually see right down to the cliff. Man Yeah. COMMENTARY Sure enough, it’s not long before we hear of a sighting. STEVE TRULUCK Oh really? Woman Yeah. STEVE TRULUCK Ooh. A fisherman off of Durness has seen a pod of orcas. One massive male. COMMENTARY We drop everything and head to where we expect to intercept them, but the orca outsmart us. STEVE TRULUCK There’s been a post put up that the orcas were seen at a place called Sanwood Bay which is the total opposite direction of where we are. So yeah, unfortunately no luck today. They’ve gone the other way. COMMENTARY Over the coming days, Louis tries again, and again, in the hopes of getting a glimpse of them. COMMENTARY But the orca have been covering vast areas of water every day, and always staying one step ahead of our cameras. COMMENTARY Louis’ not giving up, but I have to tear myself away and head 200 kilometres south, to capture another wildlife spectacle, the Moray Firth’s bottlenose dolphins… STEVE BACKSHALL Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah! COMMENTARY …feasting on salmon. STEVE BACKSHALL Oh, yes. Metres from shore Tom, metres from shore. COMMENTARY You’ve always got a good chance of seeing dolphins at Chanonry. COMMENTARY If only the orca further north were this predictable. LOUIS LABROM That’s great. COMMENTARY But Louis’ finally got some good news. Woman They’re heading down towards Burroch, just now. COMMENTARY A whale watcher has spotted some orca out at sea, and Louis takes a leap of faith and hops onboard a passenger ferry, in the hope he’ll see them as they pass. LOUIS LABROM We’re getting on the ferry! (Laughs) LOUIS LABROM I’m not getting my hopes up but also it would be incredible, incredible to see them. COMMENTARY And finally, out of nowhere an unmistakable flash of black and white. LOUIS LABROM Yeah, there they are. Yeah, got ‘em. Got ‘em. Got ‘em. COMMENTARY This is the much loved pod of orca known as the 27s. COMMENTARY And, great news… LOUIS LABROM There’s a little one. COMMENTARY …they have a calf. COMMENTARY Now their pod is 8 members strong. Woman Wah-hoo! Wah! LOUIS LABROM These guys have put in so much hard work, and they’re all so passionate about it and some of them have been out for weeks and, and now they get to see it and I’m here seeing it with them, so I’m not crying, it’s just the wind in my eyes! COMMENTARY With two incredible wildlife encounters filmed at the same time, I can’t wait to catch up with the crew, once they’re back on shore. LOUIS LABROM How are we? STEVE BACKSHALL Very, very happy. LOUIS LABROM Mm. Good. STEVE BACKSHALL What an amazing job. LOUIS LABROM Well orca on the British Isles, it was really wonderful to see. It’s our last day filming so last day luck. COMMENTARY Revealing the challenges orca face was only possible because of the passionate people doing their best to help whales in any way they can. COMMENTARY And it’s that passion we’ll need to harness, across nations and oceans, if we’re to ensure the future of whales in our seas.