Moray Firth latest

Despite the onslaught of winter it isn't bad up here in the Moray Firth – it's been a balmy sort of month weather-wise.

On the sightings front; February has proven to be disappointing for land-based watches with only a few bottlenose dolphin sightings down along the outer Firth, the inner Firth being a little better with 10 sightings from Fort George and Chanonry Point. Further north, at Golspie, a few bottlenose and 2 Rissos dolphins were encountered.

As usual at this time of year, the watchers over at Aberdeen and the east coast had a better time, on one occasion seeing 30+ dolphins close to the harbour and others down near Stonehaven – most days groups of 6+ animals were spotted at various watch sites. With so many volunteer observers now, we are able to cover a pretty wide area of coastline and our next “watch” for volunteers is scheduled for the 26 March.

I have visited quite a few schools this month ~ lots of artwork and our special “dorsal fin hats” have been the order of the day! One of the visits was to the King Edward school near Banff and I was delighted to find out that following our visit there last summer, the school had taken it upon themselves to carry out a beach clean up. This is fantastic news and proves that our visits do encourage children to think about the impact we have on the marine environment and to actively do something to help – well done to the pupils at King Edwards school – great work !

We are still involved in raising awareness on the proposed project to construct a marina, capable of mooring 500 boats, at Whiteness Head near Nairn. We are very concerned as this would have a huge impact on the dolphins habitat and have implications for other wildlife in the area. Because of this, a lot of ill feeling has been coming my way from local yacht owners – all they can say is “dolphins don't worry about the boats” - but that is not the issue. The increase in boat traffic that this new development would create would have a huge effect and the Marine Connection and Scottish National Heritage have put out points across and I have been invited to appear at the hearing of the planning group, so will keep everyone informed with developments on this.

February ended on a very sad note, with the death of a harbour porpoise. Sadly, at this time of year, these shy cetaceans are at their most vulnerable – having to cope with rough seas and a decrease in food stocks. The porpoise was very thin but showed no signs of attack from bottlenose dolphins (sadly a fairly common cause of death for porpoise in the area).

Just as I was writing this report, commenting on how balmy the weather in February had been the skies darkened and huge snow blizzards swept in from the North – covering Findochty in a thick blanket of snow! The sea state was awesome – with 20ft waves crashing down on the rocks .. as I sat by the fire my thoughts turned to the dolphins out in the Firth and how they must be faring in this weather – but I am sure this type of weather is a bit like a ride at Alton Towers to them – great fun !

Hope to see some of you up here when the better weather returns - (remember the clocks go forward on the 26th).

Bye for now

Peter MacDonald