Moray Firth is an inlet located in the North Sea. It is nearby to Inverness which is in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is actually the largest firth in Scotland and stretches from Duncansby Head in the north to Inverness in the west. Comprised of over 800 kilometres of spectacular coastline, the Moray Firth is known as one of the most important places on the UK coastline to watch for both dolphins and whales.
Moray Firth is home to four types of dolphins. The Moray Firth dolphins that you see most commonly are the bottlenose dolphin and the harbour porpoise. Occasionally you will catch a glimpse of the common dolphin as well as the Minke whale. Since the coast of Moray Firth is mostly made up of cliff areas, it makes for an excellent viewing spot up and down the coast. In particular Chanonry Point is a popular viewing area for dolphins within the inner Moray Firth. Other fantastic spots where you can do some dolphin watching are Spey Bay and North Kessock. Both are run by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society which keeps the Moray Firth dolphins in this area safe from harm. In fact, the entire inner Moray Firth is designated as a Special Protection Area for all wildlife conservation purposes which makes it one of the best natural habitats for dolphin and other wildlife viewing.
People come from all over the world to see the over 130 Moray Firth bottlenose dolphins that call it home. There is no exact number on the harbour porpoises that also call Moray Firth home but it is thought that there could be almost 80 of those as well. The Moray Firth dolphins are a bit different from the dolphins you will see in tropical climates because they vary so much in physicality as compared to the tropical dolphins found in the Caribbean, Pacific or Indian Oceans. They are a lot larger and have a lot more meat on them. In fact, they are as big as 4 metres as compared to only 2.5 metres of the warmer water dolphins. This is mostly because they have to keep a larger percentage of blubber in their bodies which keeps them insulated against the colder water temperatures that are so common in the North Sea.
The Moray Firth dolphins are a common sight and some have reported seeing them as far back as 1900, but more likely they have been around since about 1920. These particular dolphins are extremely friendly and love showing off for the local crowds. They often swim together as a very close knit family and because there are only 130 of them you can even manage to see the same dolphin over and over again. They tend to leap close to shore on the calm days during April and September.
Because there is such a small and somewhat isolated group of bottlenose dolphins in Moray Firth, they tend to be rather vulnerable to a threat in their natural environment. However, with the conservation efforts to save the Moray Firth dolphins people expect that they will be around for a long time to come providing their natural habitat remains almost untouched.
