The first two weeks of March provided something of a hangover of the horrible winter that the Firth has experienced these last few months.

Windy, blustery conditions provided distinctly unfavourable conditions for those hoping to spot dolphins. The first week of the month provided sporadic sightings of Rainbow, Mischief, Nevis and Sundance who were drifting in past Chanonry every so often looking for fish. The second week went very quietly with almost nothing moving around and little to see.

However the second half of the month brought with it the new moon phase. This meant migratory salmon starting to run for the river systems around the Firth area and the dolphins returning to Chanonry Point to forage and hunt.

WDCS blogger Charlie was lucky enough to see Nevis catch a beauty right in front of him, proving that spring is properly underway.

The onset of spring has also seen sightings of dolphin-spotters becoming more commonplace, with many people coming to Chanonry and North Kessock looking for dolphins. Last week around a dozen people were seen sheltering in the lee of a lighthouse wall and all looking out for the Firth’s famous dolphins.

Dolphin Diaries Update(Courtesy of Charlie and the adopt a dolphin team at WDCS)

Rainbow

Friendly and sociable as ever, Rainbow has been around the Inner Firth a lot in the company of most of the other dolphins. She pulled a real fast one on me the other day when I was watching a group of dolphins stopping to hunt in the Chanonry current and I didn’t see her until I checked the photos later. There she was, having a good old surf by herself in the heavy swell. Her small dorsal fin nick sometimes makes her difficult to recognise at a distance but she’s much easier when she gets a bit closer. She’ll be as regular as clockwork now. At the start of every season she is always one of the first dolphins (like Nevis) to start hunting at the Point.

Moonlight

Moonlight is still staying outside the Chanonry area at the moment. This isn’t really unusual as I didn’t photograph her hunting properly here until the 19th April last season so there’s plenty of time for her to arrive. She’s been past me at the Point earlier this year, but the distance and the way she was moving were not good for getting photos. When I see some of her Cromarty friends starting to come back into the area I’ll know that it’s time to look out for her and with a bit of luck get some nice close-ups to see how she has fared over the winter.

Spirit

I haven’t spotted Spirit from the beach at Chanonry since last month. This month it’s has been pretty quiet with no visits from any of the dolphins that she and Sparkle hang out with. I think that she’ll be busy patrolling her own patch of sea near the entrance to the Cromarty Firth, waiting on the big salmon arriving as they do about now. The dolphins menu is just about to change for much bigger, faster prey such as sea trout and the migratory salmon which Spirit is an expert at hunting. Like the other mothers of the 2007 calving season, she’ll teach her offspring how to tackle these big fish as Sparkle is now big enough to swallow a reasonable-sized salmon. It’s going to be an interesting season to watch the up and coming three year olds honing their hunting skills, moving away from small prey to these biggies!

Thunder

There is still, sadly, no sign of this great dolphin. Some of the big groups of dolphins that he would normally be seen with have passed through the Inner Firth but we scanned them to no avail. As ever, if any of us hear of anything or see anything we will let you know.

Nevis

I have to confess that I was a wee bit worried about Nevis as I hadn’t seen him with the other regular dolphins in the Chanonry area for a while but thankfully he has recently started to turn up at the Point looking for salmon. He is normally the first of the dolphins to take up his station at Chanonry in his favourite fishing spot. I noticed that he was moving quite slowly the other day, as though conserving energy but then bam, he hit the pedal and got himself an absolute corker of a salmon that will give him a much needed boost in calories. Dolphins can appear thin at the base of the dorsal fin at this time of year (after a hard winter) and a sunken appearance below the fin can mean a very hungry and thin dolphin that needs feeding up as quickly as possible. Let’s hope that he has started as he means to go on and will be as fat as a barrel before too long.

Sundance

Sundance has been on the prowl quite a few times this month and looking good too, often in the company of another big male called Trail Scoop and they have been patrolling up and down past Chanonry Point out into the shipping channel where salmon also tend to run. He hasn’t been chatting up the ladies so far, looking for food would seem to be the most important thing on his agenda and the other day he and another six dolphins were in the current foraging properly for the first time this season. This is a full ten days earlier than last seasons start so with a bit of luck the salmon run has kicked in early which will be good for hungry dolphins and good for me as I need some close-up photos of our dolphins to assess what condition they are in after the winter period.

Mischief

This big character has been quite busy this month, I’ve seen him a few times near Chanonry and also spotted him just beyond the Kessock Bridge, looking for salmon coming up the River Ness no doubt. He’s been chatting up the ladies already this year, I spotted him swimming in very close formation with a lovely female dolphin called Arabic and I think he was trying some smooth lines on her. He was also briefly beside Rainbow but she left him and headed over to one of the girl groups in the distance. He hasn’t been foraging right into Chanonry yet, only passing by but I expect to see him join the hunting party pretty soon.

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