Family Fortunes
The Original Pair Return!
After an exciting day yesterday, things got back to normal in the Inner Firth today; and not just back to normal with Kesslet and Scoopy, but 2016 normal with Kesslet and Charlie! After a quiet morning with the seals, Kesslet and Charlie put on a right show for our 12pm passengers, following the boat into the marina from as far out as Kilmuir! From then, they decided to stick around, and were spotted at 2pm hunting about for salmon in the river at first, then further out into the Beauly Firth. Between the 2pm and 4pm trips the mother-and-son bonding time came to an abrupt end, with the arrival of big Scoopy once more, who was spotted milling about with the pair in the river at the close of the day! It’s lovely to see the firth being so active, and rather consistently again too. After 2016’s rather controversial summer dredging of the harbour area, and the effect it had on the dolphins in the area, it’s rather impressive to watch the difference this year! Seems like you can’t shoo a hungry girl like Kesslet out of her patch with a little noise and silt! Hardy girl!
National Whale and Dolphin Watch
Guide Krystyna returns to her post for almost a whole week starting tomorrow, and with her, we’ll begin to catalogue our sightings with Seawatch Foundation for National Whale and Dolphin Watch week! You can get involved on your own too, recording your sightings with us or on shore using their sightings form or emailing them over directly at http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/recording-and-submitting-sightings/. With our recent surprise visitors this month, this data will not just be useful for us, but for other organisations who are working to conserve all cetaceans living in UK waters! Anything can help, and even if you don’t see any cetaceans on your watches, you can participate in their social media spoof #NoWhaleOrDolphin hashtag to make up your own silly sighting (their example is a peeled banana resembling a dolphin!). So make sure you get involved, get your spotters sheets and binoculars out, and see who we can find!