Project insight
The Lighthouse Field Station
WDCS has supported the University of Aberdeen’s bottlenose dolphin research and conservation work in the Moray Firth since 1992. The project is based at the Lighthouse Field Station in Cromarty, on the tip of Black Isle, which is right at the centre of the Moray Firth.
Director of the Lighthouse Field Station project is Dr Paul Thompson. Paul has been researching marine mammal behaviour and ecology for nearly two decades and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the University of Aberdeen's Department of Zoology. Much of the research done at the Field Station aims to discover how changes in environmental conditions affect marine wildlife populations. To answer these questions, Paul and his team have directed the long-term studies of bottlenose dolphins and seals in the Moray Firth, and collaborated with many other research groups around the world.
Charlie Phillips: Adopt a Dolphin Field Officer
Charlie Phillips has been studying and photographing dolphins for 17 years and ten of those have been as part of WDCS! Nowadays his role is that of Adopt a Dolphin Field Officer up in Scotland’s Moray Firth, from where he reports back exclusively to our adopters. When he’s not out with his binoculars and camera, Charlie’s based at the WDCS Dolphin and Seal Centre at North Kessock. You might also find him updating the team at the WDCS Wildlife Centre in Spey Bay.
Charlie’s Dolphin Diaries and fantastic photographs appear each month in the Adopt a Dolphin email update. This goes out to all dolphin adopters who pay by direct debit, so you’ll be the first to know what Rainbow, Nevis, Sundance and Moonlight have been up to.
You can find more of Charlie’s superb pictures and reports at his blog: http://www.adoptadolphin.com/blog You can also leave him a message or a comment here if you have questions about your dolphin!
If you’d like to visit the area where your dolphin lives, you can visit the WDCS Wildlife Centre. For more details click here.