Dolphins, the BBC and magnets

I have just had the privilege of visiting the WDCS Wildlife Centres in Scotland, a journey that I am distracted from making all too often because I can find a million other issues arriving at my office door to secure me firmly at my desk.

The WDCS Wildlife Centres at Spey Bay and North Kessock, Scotland, are two of the most remarkable places in the world and whilst I was there the UK’s BBC were filming the Springwatch tv series, featuring the dolphins of the Moray Firth – but everyone was beginng to get worried, - and it was because I was in the region.

Now, none of my colleagues are ever willing to go whale or dolphin watching with me anymore as I have the worst success record of anyone I know; or apparently of anyone else in the world according to almost everybody else who has suffered spending time trying to see cetaceans with me.

I remember ten years ago when traveling through Japan I had arrived at the stunning location of Ogata in Kochi Prefecture. Hosted by the local whale watching cooperative, I was taken out to see the brydes’ whales that are to be found in local waters and were then subject to a 90% plus successful sightings record each trip.

After nearly nine hours we had seen nothing but a beautiful seascape, (it’s a stunning location and if you ever get a chance go and visit the wonderful people of this region of Japan). Despite my polite, but increasingly strident suggestions that it might ‘just have been one of those days’, (I had not slept for some twenty hours), my host, one of the leaders of the fishing community that was the basis for the cooperative, insisted that we hang on for ten more minutes. And indeed he was right.

After nine more minutes a beautiful brydes whale breeched in front of us, throwing a shower of salt water across the bows of the boat.

Yep, it had been worth the wait ☺

Getting back to Scotland and strict BBC timelines, you can see why my reputation for whale watching might have been causing a few nervous ticks – and I was not even involved with the filming.

Our colleague Charlie Phillips had been looking after the BBC’s Simon King and there is almost no one who knows more about the dolphins than Charlie. Charlie is also the inverse of me when it comes to seeing dolphins, he’s the classic ‘dolphin magnet’ – I am sure Charlie has worked out that elusive dolphin telepathy know only to the select few.

And sure enough whilst I was visiting the WDCS team at the North Kessock Dolphin and Seal Centre, Charlie and Simon managed to see some fifty dolphins feeding not fifteen metres off shore. As the BBC said, the inner Firth is one of the best places in world to see dolphins this close up.

So I guess my jinx continues, but WDCS’ success continues. These are the dolphins that the UK and German based operations have as our adopted animals. WDCS has been working with local people to protect them for sixteen years – and maybe they know that with major plans to further develop the Firth, they need to help WDCS with a few appearances every now and then .

It certainly seems they know when they need to be TV stars ☺