Wildlife spotters unexpectedly found themselves surrounded by a large pod of dolphins when on a boat trip off the north coast of Skye. Nick Davies, the owner of the boat who operates out of Gairloch on the mainland, thinks there were roughly 1000 short-beaked common dolphins in this ‘Superpod’. Mr Davies said that he had only ever encountered such a sight once before in the 15 years he’s been operating.
In June last year more than 400 short-beaked common dolphins were recorded on the Moray Firth. The Skye pod included adults, juveniles and calves according to the wildlife spotter. Daives said, “they were everywhere you looked for as far as you could see.” “They filled five square miles of sea!” The size of the pod is thought to have been created when smaller pods grouped together to chase a massive shoal of fish. The pod that was spotted in June 2009 was said to be a “massive migration” into the North Sea.