Dolphin Spotting
One of my other hobbies I like doing is dolphin spotting either on dry land looking out to sea for them or going out on boat trips to try and spot them.
I first gained an interest of dolphins around the age of 8 or 9 when Freddie the Dolphin first started appearing off Amble and made Amble harbour his home. At that point, it was pretty unusual for dolphins to be seen off the North-East coast so he got big news coverage not only in the local news like on LOOK NORTH, NORTHERN LIFE, TYNE TEES TODAY, and in the Evening Chronicle and Journal but also nationally like programmes such as as TOMORROW'S WORLD. I remember one Sunday afternoon in October 1991 going up to Amble to try and spot Freddie with my Mam, Dad and brothers. We stood next to the houses that overlook the marina and looked over to the entrance and all we could see was his dorsal fin occasionally. Just as we were leaving a boat came into the harbour and Freddie started jumping out the water. A year later Freddie was in that accident with a boat where he was hit by the propellers and he disappeared off Amble and there was massive news coverage in the local and national press. My Gran took me and my brothers down to Tynemouth pier one afternoon as he was supposed to be there. As we were walking along the pier a Tyne Tees television camera crew were coming off and they said a porpoise had swam into the piers but nothing else. A few days after this there was a picture in the Daily Mail of Freddie's dorsal fin and the scars from his injury as he made an appearance off Tynemouth. Shortly after this he disappeared again only to turn up off Sunderland and then, sadly, shortly afterwards, a body of a dolphin with Freddie's markings was washed up on rocks just next to Sunderland harbour and the photo in the Evening Chronicle was of this body in mid air held by a crane.
In October 1993, me, my Mam and Dad and brothers had a holiday in Rosemarkie in Scotland and went to Chanory point to see the dolphins. We saw a couple feeding.
In 2001 there was another lone dolphin, Charlie, got a lot of local press coverage when he used to hang around the mouth of the Tyne and put evening displays on for the crowds. There was one fella got video footage of him going backwards on his dorsal fin next to the low lights. Unfortunately, a year later, Charlie disappeared.
That is how my interest in dolphins started and why I like looking out for them. It's interesting to hear where they are spotted and trying to spot them.
Since October 2015 I have been going on dolphin trips through both the Ocean Explorer operated by Billy Shiels boats at Seahouses and skippered by Alan Leatham and accompanied by Ben Burville and Northern Experience Wildlife Tours with Martin Kitching on board the JFK2 from the river Tyne skippered by both Allan and Mark Skinner. Both these tour operators provide, where possible considering they are wild, opportunities to get up close to White Beaked dolphins, Bottlenosed dolphins and the occasional Minke whale, all in their natural habitat and all off they Tyne or Northumberland coast and I love going on both these trips every year.
