Outreach

5 Jun 2018

Orca Watch Week and a Visit at Sunnyside

Orca Watch Week is an event in Scotland, Shetland, and Orkney, where wildlife enthusiasts come together to watch out for orcas from shore, and celebrate their presence on the coastline for the summer months. In 2018, we had the pleasure to participate in this environmentally conscious event that has an emphasis on watching with a scope from shore, with zero impact on the animals observed.

Whereas our 3rd international orca naming contest was running parallel to the event, Marie also had the pleasure to deliver an evening presentation on the orcas, hosted by Sea Watch Foundation, and in front of an unexpectedly large audience. Her presentation termed “There and Back Again: Orcas Migrating between Iceland and Scotland” brought together so many orca enthusiasts, that it had to be moved to the local sports hall.

The day after we participated in the shore watch at Duncansby Head. We got to meet up with a lot of old and new friends in this beautiful area, as Orca Watch Week sure has become one of the meeting points for people working in and supporting cetacean conservation and research. As this event becomes increasingly popular, more and more members of the public are taking part in the enjoyment of searching for (and hopefully spotting) orcas from the coastline. During our stay, we did not get to see any orcas, but they turned up soon enough just a couple of days after we had to go home. Special thanks go to Karen Munro, Adam Hall, and Sea Watch Foundation for their greatly appreciated help and support during our stay.

On our way back to Iceland, we had a stop in Glasgow to visit the amazing Sunnyside Ocean Defenders of the conservation school Sunnyside Primary, who are working in cetacean protection as part of their curriculum. These kids had won our 1st international naming contest and named orca calf Tide. We were so happy to finally meet them in person and talk about orcas with them. The kids had a lot of questions, especially also about the whaling issue in Iceland. Each of them got a little booklet with Tide’s story, and Marie received an orca water bottle from them. It was such an encouraging experience to meet these young and clever minds, and certainly one of the highlights of our trip! A big thank you to their conservation teacher Lisa Perrie for making it happen.

The Sunnyside Ocean Defenders with their “Tide” storybooks and Marie in their classroom

Orca watchers at Duncansby Head

Evening presentation in Wick

The lookout at Duncansby Head

Fluffy replicas of captive orcas in the Sunnyside classroom – opposing the keeping of cetaceans in marine parks is on the agenda of the Sunnyside Ocean Defenders

4 Jun 2018

3rd International Naming Contest – Orca Male “Gunnar” (SN068)

Our third international naming contest to name an orca that migrates between Scotland and Iceland started on the 25th of May, 2018, and was held parallel to the annual Orca Watch Week in Scotland, as an online event that was open to the public. This time, we decided to name Scottish/Icelandic orca male SN068, who is likely the oldest offspring of the most famous Scottish-Icelandic migrant, orca female Vendetta/Mousa (SN069). We have records of SN068 since January 2014 – as part of Vendetta’s group he is a regular throughout the Icelandic winter season, and often subsequently spotted in Scotland during the spring and summer. When the contest started, SN068 had been last spotted in Iceland in December 2017 and January 2018.

In our search for a male orca name we gratefully received support from several organizations both in Iceland and the UK, such as Living Seas NW Highlands / the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Caithness Sea Watching, Shetland Wildlife, Sea Watch Foundation, Láki Tours, the Radisson Blu 1919 Hotel Reykjavík, Whales of Iceland, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, Special Tours Iceland and British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

The same jury as in the first two contests had to choose 4 out of 270 names suggested by the public, resulting in the finalists “Hopper”, “Murphy”, “Gunnar”, and “Dave”. These names were given for public vote in the second part of the contest, which closed on the 3rd of June, 2018. 1145 voters decided over the winner, and the name “Gunnar” won the competition, suggested by Lisa Dry as a “Viking saying that means brave and bold”. She chose to adopt juvenile Rainbow (SN004) as a reward.

Orca male SN068, henceforth known as “Gunnar”, in November 2016

Gunnar among his core group in November 2016

20 May 2017

2nd International Naming Contest – Orca Calf “Tili” (SN201)

Our first international naming contest was an incredible success and great awareness-raiser to inspire young and old to help protect orcas around the globe. And our second international naming contest, which started on the 4^th of May, 2017, was no less exciting! This time, we named the calf of Scottish/Icelandic orca female SN200 (also known as 012 in Scotland). The calf (SN201) was first spotted on the 20^th of November, 2016, when we witnessed a big get-together of the core groups of Mousa/Vendetta (SN069), Nótt (SN067), and SN200 in Breiðafjörður (West Iceland). All these individuals are known to travel between Iceland and Scotland, and we are often jokingly referring to this day as the “Scottish invasion”. You can find detailed information on these groups here.
The calf of SN200 was considerably smaller than newly named calf Tide, and both of them were seen travelling either next to each other or close to their mothers. During the summer months, SN200 and her calf were then first spotted again in Shetland, right at the time when we were holding the contest!

In our search for a unisex name we were joined and supported by a wide array of organizations both from the UK and Iceland. Our online event was open to the public and hosted in collaboration with Living Seas Northwest Highlands, Caithness Sea Watching, Shetland Wildlife, Sea Watch Foundation, British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, Láki Tours, Special Tours, and Yakari-Travel. We are grateful for their support, which made this contest yet another success, reaching even more people across countries.
The first part of the competition resulted in a total of 210 unique name suggestions, from which our judges – coming from the same organizations as in the first contest – yet again had to pick 4 finalists. The names “Sora”, “Domino”, “Kelpie” and “Tili” were given for public vote in the second part of the contest, which closed on the 19^th of May, 2017.

Tide (SN199) and Tili (SN201) travelling side by side in November 2016

702 voters then decided over the winner. The name “Tili” won the competition, and was suggested by UK participant Sarah Louise, “in memory of the orca Tilikum, who died far too young and never got a taste of freedom”. She chose to adopt juvenile Katla (SN058) as a reward. The naming contest was, once again, covered in both the Icelandic and Scottish news, and was leading up to “Orca Watch Week” in Scotland – an annual event where wildlife enthusiasts watch out for orcas from shore, to celebrate their arrival on the Scottish coast for the summer months.

19 Nov 2016

1st International Naming Contest – Orca Calf “Tide” (SN199)

On the 14th of November 2016, we started our first international naming contest for the calf of female Vendetta (SN069, also known as Mousa). Vendetta/Mousa and her core group migrate between Iceland and Scotland – they can be spotted in West Iceland between November and March, and are then often recorded along the Scottish shoreline in May.

In 2015, we had spotted the group on the 22nd of December, and recorded a new-born calf on Mousa’s side. The calf could have been just a few weeks old, as it still displayed foetal folds on the side of the body, along with a strong coloration of the eye patches. We spotted the calf again in March 2016, and the group was then also seen in Scotland during the summertime.

When they returned back to Icelandic shores on the 9th of November 2016, we were delighted to see how much the calf had grown. To symbolically celebrate the calf’s “first birthday” (as it was now approximately one year old), and to avoid double-naming from both Scotland and Iceland, we hosted an international naming contest to give him or her a unisex name. We received over 150 creative name suggestions in many different languages, and our jury, which consisted of judges from the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Living Seas Project, Caithness Sea Watching, Shetland Wildlife Tours, and Orca Guardians Iceland, chose the four finalists from these suggestions, which were then given for public vote to decide for the winner via our Facebook page.

Vendetta (SN069) and calf with foetal folds in December 2015

While ongoing, the contest was covered both in online and print issues of news agencies in the UK and Iceland, and even made it into the Icelandic national news. We received over 1,100 votes, with a clear result at the end: The name “Tide” had gotten the most votes and won the competition. It had been suggested by the “Sunnyside Ocean Defenders”, the 25 oldest pupils (age 10-11) at Sunnyside Primary School (Glasgow), who are campaigning for the protection of whales and dolphins, are involved in beach clean-ups, and are raising awareness on cetacean conservation issues as part of their curriculum. Their competition entry read as follows:
“We feel that the ‘Tide’ is something that touches us all. We like that ‘Tide’ links the two wonderful coasts of Iceland and Scotland. Like the ‘Tide’, this pod will visit both our shores, coming and going between us. No man can control the ‘Tide’, so we think this represents the calf’s independence and freedom. Also, this new life comes at hopefully a changing of the ‘Tide’ of opinion toward their kin in captivity.”
When the kids received the news that they had won the competition, their excitement resulted in an even more intense involvement with the topic. They coined the slogan “Swim straight, Tide. Swim free!” and hand-painted orca baubles about Tide to sell at the local fare around Christmas time to raise funds for BDMLR (British Divers Marine Life Rescue). Members of the class even recorded an official thank-you video, which we were allowed to display on our website. The class was awarded a free adoption package from our adoption program, and chose to adopt Floppy (SN090).
Hayden from the Sunnyside Ocean Defenders, who had the idea for the winning name, told us this:
“When the name Tide was chosen I was really excited that we had won. Now I’ve had time to really think about it, I am honoured and proud that such a magnificent species of animal will be swimming free with the name Tide for the next 50 plus years. I think he or she will think it’s a cool name that will last the test of time. After all, Time and Tide wait for no man.“

The "Sunnyside Ocean Defenders" class of 2016/2017 after winning the naming contest

https://twitter.com/SunnysidePri/status/802168459165634560

The kids at their local fare

The "Tide" baubles

12 Sep 2016

The Sculpture of Thunderstorm (SN060)

Template for Measurements

Applying the First Layer of Concrete

Positioning the Fin

Marking Fin Nicks on Next Layer

Marking Saddle Patch with Chalk and ID Catalogue

Discussing the Final Appearance

Taking Care of Last Details

In the summer of 2016, the village of Grundar-fjörður received a gift to raise awareness of the presence of the most charismatic, superior and fascinating animals that can be found around the Snæfellsnes Peninsula – the orcas. A 1.5 ton life-size orca sculpture, along with a chart of explanations in Icelandic, English, German and French, adorns the lawn across the village’s old people’s home. This piece of art by Unnsteinn Guðmundsson is no ordinary storybook-depiction, it is modelled after a special male orca named “Thunderstorm”. Here is the full story:

When Unnsteinn approached Orca Guardians director Marie in April 2016 with the secret idea of building a life-size orca sculpture, this idea soon transformed into concrete plans, using measurements from existing scientific literature and animals that had previously been washed ashore. “Concrete” indeed, as the sculpture was supposed to be made of cement. Unnsteinn wanted to shape the sculpture after a memory from an encounter he had with a fully-grown male back in 2013, when the orcas were feeding close to shore, arching their backs repeatedly to dive straight down. The sculpture should depict precisely this movement, and it soon became apparent that the parts of the orca shown would be the fin, saddle patch, and back, with the rest of the animal imagined to “submerge” into the ground.
When Marie looked at pictures of Unnsteinn’s orca encounter from 2013, the male in the picture was likely to be the fully-grown male “Thunderstorm” (SN060 in the Orca Guardians ID catalogue – please see our ID catalogue section on how to tell apart individual orcas). So the thought arose to not only depict a storybook-fin, but even the exact markings and fin shape of this particular orca. This required studying pictures from several encounters from different angles and in various light conditions, to get an idea of the exact structure of both fin and saddle patch, as well as nicks and scars on the body.
In a great effort of 150 hours of work, Unnsteinn then created the sculpture, starting from scratch with a wooden structure to hold the main body, using wire frameworks for both body and fin, and many, many layers of concrete. In between, the sculpture was always critically assessed by its sculptor, making sure that form and size were true to the original. The sculpture was supposed to be a present and a surprise for the town on Unnsteinn’s birthday, but as it grew, it became increasingly difficult to hide it on the side of the house from curious glances of locals driving past.
Just before the black coating was applied, there came the tricky part of marking the area of the saddle patch, working in the scratches on there, and forming the nicks on the fin. After a few attempts using pictures and the ID catalogue as a template, the markings looked correct. Now, the final layer of black coating was applied, leaving out the saddle patch area. A period of bad weather (heavy rain and cold) set the project back a few days, but finally the 1.5 ton orca sculpture was lifted up into the air and placed on the lawn prepared to hold the weight (Unnsteinn did not have to completely give up his sculpture, as he can see it very well down the road from his house!).
To let the orca really “swim” instead of “biting the grass”, the local fire department came to set the area under water and create a small pond. In the wintertime, the orca dives into the snow and frozen water, making his black fin shine from afar, just like with his real counterparts. The finished orca sculpture is an excellent piece of craftsmanship and was presented to the major of Grundarfjörður on the 28th of June, 2016. It was photographed on new year’s eve with fireworks in the background (see below).

Wooden Framework of the Orca Back

Wire Framework of the Fin

Connection Fin and Back

Cutting the Nicks into the Fin Tip

Adding the Scratches on the Saddle

Applying the Black Coating

Lifting the Orca

Add-On: What do we know about the real Thunderstorm (SN060)?

Thunderstorm (SN060) is a fully-grown male who roams the shores of Snæfellsnes each winter season – he has been spotted numerous times in the area within the last three years, and we hope to see him again next winter. Thunderstorm is a member of a core group of currently nine orcas, and most often seen with the younger orca Katla (SN058) swimming by his side. And he always seems to be game for any shenanigans with Katla! If you would like to learn more about Thunderstorm and his relatives, you can adopt Katla, who is an outgoing juvenile in the same core group as Thunderstorm. Snowflake (SN054) also belongs to this core group – she is a female that had a newborn calf in February 2016, and her adoption also features information about Thunderstorm.