Moray Firth latest

The Moray Firth has been fantastic recently for not only better weather but fabulous sunsets too. The ocean has been much calmer also which gave me the opportunity of spending more time out at sea, watching the dolphins, seals and puffins.

September’s sightings were excellent compared to previous months and on most days I was watching groups of 20+ bottlenose dolphins. Population wise it has been a good year for the dolphins with at least ten new calves born. The calf that has a deformity is still doing well. It’s getting bigger and with sightings of this young animal at Aberdeen and Cromarty it shows it’s still able to travel large distances.

Harbour porpoise were spotted in various areas but on two occasions I was called out to deal with dead porpoise strandings, by the looks of it they were both killed by the bottlenose dolphins. This is such a mystery to why the dolphins do this to their cousins. Minke whales were in the firth at Spey Bay and Burghead, feeding on the huge shoal of herring that had come in. A basking shark and common dolphins were also seen in that area.

Apparently the clocks go back in three weeks time but does anyone remember where they got theirs from? Sadly I have seen my first Xmas tree with its full bright lights on at one of the hotels in the town of Keith which is very odd so on that subject; all I can say is roll on the Easter eggs!

Until next time, stay warm ....

Peter MacDonald