Species: Flapper Skate.
Location: Loch Sween, Scotland, 2021.
Late November I joined a determined crew of divers and film makers to undertake 3 consecutive dives into the murky depths of Loch Sween in the hope of baiting in and filming the elusive Flapper Skate!
The first 2 dives we drew a complete blank, however during our surface intervals we had been deploying our BRUVs (Baited Remote Underwater Video Cameras) and as we hurriedly reviewed the footage topside, we were elated to see a Flapper Skate come cruising into view! We knew they were there – we mashed up some more Mackerel and disappeared subsurface once more and BINGO, third time lucky!
Out of the pitch black, emerging from the silt came the Flapper Skate, I had been investigating Flapper Skate habitat for over 2 years now with my buddy Chris and finally I was diving with them in the wild!