Crawsnest (Tay Dolphins)

I received a call from Stewart Burns last evening asking if I could assist him with a seal that had swum up the Barry Burn and had been cut off by the receding tide.

Upon arrival it was obvious that the seal was confused about which way to swim as the route to the sea now required it to go through shallow areas of the burn. It was continuously trying to haul out, but was unable to due to the steep sides of the burn at the golf course. With a little encouragement we were able to persuade the seal to head seawards and we followed at a distance so as not to stress the animal further.

Once the animal had made it past the shallows it seemed to get a clearer picture of where the sea was and it made good progress. Once at the sea it took off with no hesitation and was soon out of sight beyond the surf.

Many thanks to all concerned… The animal is now back where it belongs…:)

Along with a steady stream of dolphins, we have a couple of unusual visitors to the area. A pair of black swans have been frequenting the area around the mouth of the dighty burn…

Full story: Courier

The season has started well enough this year with the dolphins returning in increasing numbers over the last couple of weeks…

This sunday past saw a good number of them both in the river and at the mouth of the estuary as well as a little further north…

We have also had a number of reports via facebook of dolphins being seen in the surrounding waters…

Keep watching!!!

(pic: Stewart Burns)

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), Shanwell Wildlife Rescue Trust, Tayside Fire and Rescue Service and the RNLI team up to release stranded dolphin

A dolphin has been successfully released into the sea after becoming stranded in the River Tay at Perth.

The animal had been reported in distress at Moncrieff Island on Thursday at around 10.00am.

In an operation led by BDMLR and Shanwell Wildlife Rescue Trust, the dolphin was caught and taken by road to Broughty Ferry, where a waiting RNLI crew helped take it out to open water for release.

Despite suffering some superficial cuts in the shallow water at Perth, the animal was judged to be in good health and the wildlife experts are hopeful that it will survive its adventure.

The Courier was given exclusive access on board the lifeboat throughout the operation. (See Courier report plus video)

A huge Thank You to:

The staff at King James VI Golf Club, especially David Awburn who made life easy for the rescue team by providing transport to and from the site.

Tayside Fire and Rescue Service, for providing valuable man power and equipment to help with todays rescue.

Tayside Police PC G. Samuel and Scottish SPCA Beverly O’Lone for helping with communications at times.
Stephanie Whyte the Vet from Girling and Fraser Ltd, Gareth, Harry and Stephanie Smith and anyone else that i have failed to mention that was involved.

Thank you for all your help and support today.

Stewart Burns

Out for the dog walk this morning and lo and behold the swifts are back… A few days later than usual, but always worth the wait… Standing on the brig watching them as they feed on the midgies above the burn. It’s kind of strange to think that just a couple of weeks ago they were swooping around on the plains of Africa……

They normally show up around the 21st April, but I’m guessing the high pressure further south slowed them up this year as there wouldn’t have been any tailwinds to speed them along….

Makes it feel like summer is truly here….

The Greens want to bring back plans to designate Scottish waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary.

The party’s proposed “cetacean” sanctuary is one of several marine policies in its Scottish election manifesto published on Tuesday.

Attempts by the Greens to create a whale and dolphin sanctuary as an amendment to last year’s Scottish Marine Bill were voted down by the other parties.

Although, hunting and killing whales and dolphins is banned in British waters, the amendment would have meant all planning applications at sea would have to take dolphin and whale habitats and routes into account.

The sanctuary would cover all of Scotland’s inshore and offshore waters out to the 200-mile territorial limit, and would introduce a presumption of protection for whales and dolphins while in those waters.

Eleanor Scott, the party’s co-convener, said: “Scottish waters provide one of the best whale-watching opportunities in Europe.

“The designation of the whole of Scotland’s seas as a cetacean sanctuary would assist Scotland’s growing whale and dolphin-watching businesses, and would provide much needed support for remote and coastal communities that rely on eco-tourism for much of their income and employment.”

The Greens have also pledged to end the legal shooting of seals, block ship-to-ship oil transfers, end the dumping of waste at sea and work with other countries to end global whaling.

Source: Press Association

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) is having a information stand and small display at Wormit Boat Club Centenary Open Day.

The open day is on Saturday 30th April @ 11.00am. For more information look at Wormit Boat Club page: http://homepages.rya-online.net/wormit or BDMLR page: www.bdmlr.org.uk

Hi everyone… Well, April is here again, just awaiting the arrival of the swifts to know that summer is upon us… Looking forward to the return of the dolphins in greater numbers after a quiet winter….

A word of thanks to everyone who reported sightings over the winter months. Your input is greatly appreciated. Thanks to Jeem for his report of two porpoises.. they are not seen so often now and it’s nice to know there are still some in the immediate vicinity…

We are just gearing up for the coming season and will be out on sighting duty on a regular basis soon… Perhaps we’ll see some of you there?

May I ask you to continue to report sightings to us… It all helps the welfare of the dolphins and other cetaceans in the long run…

Thanks!!!

A juvenile striped dolphin has had to be put down after being found stranded on Broughty Ferry beach.

Rescuers from Civil Defence Scotland (CDS) based at Broughty Castle Barracks were alerted to the incident at around 8.45am when a dog walker spotted the distressed animal lying on the foreshore at Sandy Beach near the Glass Pavilion.

The team immediately went to the scene and found the dolphin — just over one metre in length and believed to be only weeks old — in a panicked state and breathing heavily.

An inflated float was slid underneath it to lift it from the sand and workers spent much of the morning ensuring it was comfortable by pouring water over it and rubbing gel around its blowhole and eyes.

Blankets drenched in water were also draped over the creature to prevent it from drying out.

A specialist marine vet from British Divers Marine Life Rescue was called to assess its condition but the decision was taken to humanely destroy the dolphin at around 1pm.

It was felt that it was too young to be released back into the water and its chances of survival were remote.

Afterwards vet Austen Marr said putting the dolphin to sleep was the best option.

“We could not ensure the animal’s well-being if we were to release it back into the water,” he said.

“It is a very sad ending.”

CDS team manager Gareth Norman (49), who oversaw the rescue effort, said, “People have asked me why don’t you just release it back in the water and see how it gets on but I have to remind them that this is not Disney, it’s the real world.

“It is unlikely the mother will still be in the area. What we could end up doing is coming across the same dolphin in a few days’ time stranded on another beach.”

Mr Norman added that the vet’s difficult decision had been taken with the animal’s best interest at heart.

“The dolphin had to be humanely destroyed as it was a juvenile mammal that was dependent on its mother and family group.

“Although it was possible that it could have been refloated, it may not have been able to reform with its family group.”

The dolphin’s carcass has now been placed with British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who will transport it to the Scottish Agricultural College in Inverness for a post-mortem to be carried out.

Source: Courier

On June 23 a fishermen reported that a “dolphin” was seen in difficulty in the Wadden Sea. This dolphin turned out to be a young female orca. In consultation with Ministry NLV the young orca was removed from the Wadden Sea and transferred to the Dolphinarium in Harderwijk for rehabilitation.

After the capture of the young orca Morgan, a release support group was founded to monitor her progress toward recovery and do whatever is necessary so that she can be successfully brought back to her family in her home waters and be given the opportunity to be released.

The group consists of Orca advocates with an expert board of well known scientists and researchers who have been studying orca populations for many decades and are considered to be top notch experts in the field.It is unanimously agreed that Morgan should be released and they are working on a plan to accomplish this.

You can follow the discussion and the development of the release plan for Morgan’s freedom on the freemorgan.nl website. Please see if you can help…