Whales, lifeboats and a spectacular commute - Emily's life in Shetland

Emily Hague grew up in Sheffield. Not, as she cheerfully acknowledges, the most obvious starting point for a career in marine mammal research – and certainly not for a researcher who now spends her days surveying whales and dolphins in some of the UK’s richest cetacean waters.

"I have no idea how this interest came about," she says. "There were no marine mammal themed holidays. None of that." The best explanation she can offer is the film Free Willy, which she watched in her formative years.

"I think I wanted to free all the killer whales. I had books about whales from being really young and would read about them and dream about seeing them."

Emily first came to Shetland in July 2019, sleeping in the back of her four-by-four as a volunteer on a research project looking for killer whales. She arrived on the ferry to rain, grey skies and cold, gale-force winds.

"I'm thinking, oh gosh, this is a big mistake. Two weeks in the back of a truck in this weather." Within days, she started to feel differently.

"The first night I went to Scousborough Sands and saw the seals messing about there, playing in the surf. There's a magic about Shetland, isn't there, and it didn't take long before it got under my skin."

She came back in 2020 for a beach clean project, and again the year after for a holiday. Each time, the pull grew stronger. "I think by that point I'd begun to realise that there's something about Shetland that keeps making me go back." In March 2024, she stopped going back and started staying.

Emily now works at UHI Shetland as a marine mammal researcher on the Blue Connect programme, which has recently received two years of funding from the Shetland Community Benefit Fund.

Twice a month, year-round, she takes volunteers out on the water to conduct photo identification surveys. "We're looking for any cetacean species – any whale, dolphin or porpoise – and we record the environmental conditions every 15 minutes."

The key detail, she explains, is the fin. Each dolphin or whale has a uniquely shaped dorsal fin, marked by nicks and scratches that stay consistent year to year. "You can see ‘Scrappy’ the whale one year and then get a picture of them the next year and say: that's the same whale, but in a different place."

The surveys run even in winter. "A few people raised their eyebrows when I said we'd do them in winter, but we did manage to find good weather days, and we did see things."

The funding means the team can plan rather than lurching between short-term grants. "A lot of research funding is three months here, six months there. Now we can just actually focus on the science."

Beyond her research, Emily volunteers as a navigator on the Lerwick lifeboat crew, a role she's held in various forms for nearly eight years. When she moved to Shetland, she simply switched from her previous crew in Anstruther, bringing her qualifications with her.

"Every time the boat goes to sea it ideally needs a coxswain, mechanic and a navigator. I really enjoy doing the navigation and keeping us right during training or call-outs."

The lifeboat, she says, gave her an immediate anchor in the community. "You instantly get to know a group of people and their families and become part of a community. And immediately get to give something back to where you've moved to."

There's a practical dimension too. People notice that you’re involved in community life.

"If you get chatting with folks about what you do, I think it immediately makes people think you're not one of those people that's just moved here and will maybe stay six months."

She now lives on the road between Hillswick and Eshaness in Shetland’s spectacularly rugged North Mainland.

Every evening she drives home from work past the voes and Ronas Hill, Shetland’s highest peak.

"I have to remind myself sometimes how lucky I am. I can see so much wildlife as well as the Drongs, all just on my way home, and it just feels magical, seeing that every day."

For anyone considering a similar move, Emily is honest about what it takes. "Shetland's not for everyone. But if it's got under your skin and you keep going back, and you're willing to embrace all aspects of it, then it's been one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life."

She mentions the unspoken local test: how many winters have you done? "That's the deciding factor for the locals about whether or not you're a real ‘sticker-arounder’!"

The opportunities Emily has enjoyed, she says, have come because she was here and got to know people: helping the team film for the David Attenborough Ocean programme, going out with local fishing boats to document the hundreds of killer whale sightings during the winter mackerel fishing season.

"All of that has been possible because I made the leap to move here in the first place. Whatever you put in, you'll get back tenfold."

She bought a house with a view she still can't quite believe. "I go home every day and pinch myself. It's home now. I wouldn't change anything."

To find out more about volunteering on the marine mammal surveys, visit the Shetland Marine Mammals website: https://www.shetlandmarinemammals.com/