What a month November has been! As usual we have had our 'out and about' days with the display boards and road show, heading for a school or two plus the added excitement of bonfire night and Halloween.

The weather is as ever changing, the coming of winter draws near, and with the days getting shorter the amount of time available to get out on the boat or watching from the shore is less and less, but on the whole the weather has not been at all bad, we have even had a few days when the Moray Firth was reported to have been the warmest area in the UK. I wonder how many of you think about the dolphins when you are watching the weather forecast on the news and they point up at the Firth? Strangely enough, I am always drawn to Cardigan Bay when Mr Fish points out at a cloud or worse!

The larger survey boat is now more or less stopped operations for the year, and is now busy having all sorts of exciting gadgets fitted in time for next Spring, to help make the trips out to sea even more interesting and exciting! I must admit the central heating will be a real boost on cold and wet days as will the new screen, especially installed to allow passengers to watch some amazing dolphin footage (although of course most will be outside on deck watching for the real thing most of the time!).

On the cetacean watching front we have had some great sightings over the last few months in the Firth with over seven different species being recorded in the Firth this year, including humpback and orca (killer) whales also Risso's and white sided dolphins and over 1,400 sightings of bottlenose dolphins, 80+ harbour porpoise with some good sightings of minke whales as well. So if you are planning to come up in 2006 prepare to be amazed!

When out on the boat you always think (or hope) you are going to see something out of the ordinary. At the beginning of the month on one trip over around Lossiemouth, the local RAF rescue helicopter decided to drop a few people on board as rescue practice. Imagine our delight and surprise when, as the second person was being lowered, a basking shark was seen close to the boat! These magnificent creatures are usually seen along the west coast, so it was fantastic to see this 15ft long fish milling around the firth. The person being lowered from the helicopter was at one point dangling only a few feet away from the shark, and promptly used the opportunity to take some once in a lifetime photographs!

With Christmas coming soon don't forget the shortest day of the year on the 21 December, then it's all the way to spring, longer days and more watching. Finally, on the watching front, Aberdeen is now the hottest dolphin spotting site in the UK with dolphins there every day now and hopefully will be able to be seen there all the way through to April. I am also carrying out some surveys from Stonehaven both this and next year so will keep you all informed of what is going on.

So until we see each other again, or meet for the first time ….all things good

Peter MacDonald