Sea Watch Events

Katrin Lohrengel is the Regional Coordinator for the Sea Watch Foundation in the North West. Sea Watch is a national marine conservation charity that works in close partnership with the public to study and conserve UK cetaceans. One of her aims is to set up a sightings network of reliable observers to improve coverage of the North West. She is looking for people to participate and organise land based cetacean watches throughout the year but also just to submit casual sightings.

Katrin says "Apart from expanding the sightings network, the main event every year is the National Whale and Dolphin Watch,  an annual event, this year taking place on the 27th to 29th July where we try and get out as many observers as possible around the UK to get a snapshot of UK cetaceans. The participation in the North West has traditionally been quite poor and I am looking to improve that this year, so the more people we have that are happy to participate, the better!"

These are the watches scheduled to take place in the North West at the moment but there are definitely going to be some in Cumbria and probably at least another one each day around the Wirral (potentially Hilbre). People can come to as long as they like, there is no obligation to stay the entire time period, although at least an hour is recommended.

Wirral

Friday 27th July - New Brighton Promenade. 3 - 7 p.m.

Saturday 28th July - New Brighton Promenade. 3 - 7 p.m.

Sunday 29th July - New Brighton Promenade. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Blackpool

Friday 27th July - Mirror Ball, New South Promenade. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Saturday 28th July - Jubilee Gardens, Gynn Square. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Sunday 29th July - Princes Promenade, Anchorsholme. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Monday 30th July to Friday 3rd August - Mirror Ball, New South Promenade. 12 noon - 1 p.m.

There will also be some training sessions on the 22nd and 23rd July to run through the forms and give people some more information on what to look out for when they are on land watch.

If you want to get a bit more background on what's going on, you can read about it on http://worldofdifference.vodafone.co.uk/blogs/katrin-lohrengel/ and you can also follow Katrin on Twitter - @NWcetaceans