Moray Firth latest

April was a fine month with lots of sunshine, bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises with sightings spreading out in areas from Fort George to Aberdeen. The Inner Moray Firth also had sightings of both species.

Along my own coastline, here at Findochty, the animals were seen regularly and thankfully there has been no strandings for me to attend.

Other good news is that last month I mentioned the possibility of a new development at Strathlene, near the Buckie area to build a café and restore the nearby slipway for fast water craft including jet skis to use. I recently had confirmation that the plans have been shelved and that the slipway is to house a salmon boat instead as a visitor attraction. I am feeling happier about this as I was concerned about the noise that these crafts produce and the effect that this would have had on the dolphins and other marine life. Interestingly enough, there is a conference shortly in Inverness which will be about protecting the Moray Firth wildlife, keeping our coastlines clean, what oil and energy developments are planned for the Firth and new marinas and wildlife tourism. I am looking forward to attending and will give you an update in my next report.

I always enjoy sitting and watching these marine mammals but the days I don’t see any fins gliding over the water, I am rewarded instead with the sight of thousands of Gannets flying about the cliffs along with a few thousand auks including puffins. It all makes it of course, a great wildlife watching experience.

Lastly and non dolphin related for a change, my partner and I now have a baby girl who arrived in the world on May 2 – so far no sleepless nights! I am looking forward to showing Maya the bottlenose dolphins but I guess that will be some time yet, so until then I look forward to enjoying the weather and getting out on the boat, once again looking for your adopted dolphins.

Until next time, all good wishes

Peter Macdonald