Contact
Contact the desk
One address reaches the desk that keeps this journal honest, and it is read by the people who write the entries.
The desk can be reached at contact@hebridean-whale-cruises.com. There is no form, no telephone number and no office to visit. A message to that address goes to the people who write the entries, and it is answered in writing when there is something useful to say.
What to write about
Three kinds of message are useful. A correction, where a page states something the reader knows or can show to be wrong, with the source if there is one. A question about a watch point, the ground, the access or the light, which the desk answers from the published record or says it cannot. And a note about what was seen from a given headland, with the date, the time, the sea state and the number of animals, which is the shape of a record worth keeping.
What not to expect
The desk does not book trips, recommend operators, quote fares or hold departure times, and a message asking for any of those receives a short reply saying so. This journal is kept from land and has nothing to sell. It also does not give advice on approaching an animal, because the only sound advice is not to: under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 it is an offence to deliberately or recklessly disturb any dolphin, porpoise or whale.
Where a sighting should really go
A sighting sent to this desk becomes a note in a journal. A sighting sent to the organisations that study these animals becomes data. The Sea Watch Foundation publishes a land based recording form and the guidance for completing it; Whale and Dolphin Conservation runs the Shorewatch programme at fixed sites, including Tiumpan Head; the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust collects reports and photographs for its photo identification catalogues. How a record is kept so that it is worth sending is explained in %%.
Corrections
A message that points out an error is the most valuable one the desk receives. When a correction is accepted, the page is changed and the change is noted on it with the date; when it is not, the desk replies with the reason and the source it relied on. Nothing is corrected silently. The people who answer this address are the people described on the page about %%.