Moray Firth latest - August 2006

After July being such a hot month, August in the Moray Firth returned to its usual pattern of weather - sunny days with rain and the wind turning round from the south to the north. As usual none of this seemed to bother the dolphins. They were still busy feeding on the whiting and salmon within the Inner Moray Firth and out towards Macduff along the east coast. In early August I received exciting news about some fin whales being sighted around Chanonry point, near to Inverness. Apart from the sightings being rare around this area it was also interesting to see the whales so close into shore. Sightings of common dolphins were also spotted around this area on a more regular basis with a pod of seven+ seen most days along with basking sharks and sunfish. However what really delighted me was the high numbers of harbour porpoise seen also in this area.

The summer months have been excellent for minke whale sightings and August was no different with adults and juvenile's been seen at Cromarty. However the really exiting news was the encounter with the two Sowerby's beaked whales off Fort George - a very rare sight indeed and if this trend continues who knows what we will be seeing next year. Other species sighted over the summer included Risso's dolphins, killer whales and White-sided dolphins, clearly showing that the Moray Firth is still one of the best areas for watching cetaceans! Harbour porpoise and bottlenose dolphins were also seen feeding and travelling from Burghead to Lossiemouth.

Most days I was seeing 35+ dolphins from the Spey to the Devron and it was simply great to see these animals from either land or sea. There were at least 5 new calves, some juveniles and sub adults. When I was out at sea, the young adults would come over to the boat with their mothers, bow ride for a while and then leave - always magical! Of course when I have calves or indeed any dolphin around the boat, it's essential to keep my distance but its usually the dolphins that comes over to me! I simply slow right down or I turn the engine off.

Minke whales and harbour porpoise at Macduff to Fraserburgh were still being seen in good numbers throughout August but with the schools being back now I am preparing for our school work and a new programme of events. Busy as ever I am already booked to visit certain areas from Aviemore to Aberdeen. September 23 I will be also giving a talk at TECHFEST in Aberdeen so if you are here come and see me. Schools are also welcome to contact me too for a talk.

Lastly I spent a great week over on the west coast at Arisaig working around the islands of Rhum and Eigg. Despite the weather I saw porpoises, common dolphins and many fantastic shearwaters. On my first day out on the boat I was looking for some bottlenose whales that had been sighted but my luck was not in that time, I had to be happy with sightings of harbour porpoise instead.

It's been a pleasure having so many Marine Connection adopters up in the Moray Firth over the summer and I hope you all went home with happy memories. Come back and see the dolphins and me next year!

Until next month with my regular report, have a good month.

Pete