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Baby dolphin spotted with pod off Yorkshire coast

Robin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation A dark-grey baby bottlenose dolphin swimming next to an adult dolphin in the sea off the Yorkshire coastRobin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation
A calf was spotted among a pod of about 13 dolphins

A pod of 40 bottlenose dolphins spotted off the Yorkshire coast is one of the biggest seen in the past 12 months, according to an expert.

The dolphins were reported off Filey, North Yorkshire, on Saturday. On the same day another group of about 13 was seen off the coast of Flamborough, East Yorkshire, just before 11:30 BST.

Robin Petch, of the Sea Watch Foundation, said a new-born calf was among the latter group and had been identified by foetal folds "showing it is no more than a few weeks old".

The creatures, which appear to have migrated from the Moray Firth in Scotland, were either hunting for food or had gathered for mating, Mr Petch added.

Robin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation A group five dark-grey dolphins swimming together in the sea off the Yorkshire coastRobin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation
The new-born calf (far right) has been identified as "no more than a few weeks old"

"It's just so exciting when they do get together like that," said Mr Petch.

"You'll see them kind of rolling together, there's a lot of splashing and activity and kind of curling and twisting and tail slapping in the air."

The foundation – a marine environmental charity – is running its annual National Whale and Dolphin Watch survey to record a "snapshot" of cetacean movements around the UK coast.

Mr Petch said that while Cardigan Bay in Wales remained the best location to see an increasing number of cetaceans, the coastlines of Yorkshire and Northumberland were now among the "top places" for sightings.

Robin Petch A smiling Robin Petch has long grey hair and wears a black jacket and dark metal-framed spectacles. He looks windswept in front of a backdrop of the sea and green hills.Robin Petch
Robin Petch says the coast of northern England is now one of the best places to see dolphins and whales

"Probably around a third" of what was the Scottish population of bottlenose dolphins was now living off Yorkshire and Northumbria – where there is an abundance of salmon, herring and other fish – for "most, if not all of the year".

"We have dolphins that are being seen regularly down here now throughout the year that haven't been seen in Scotland for five or six years, whereas previously they were there all the time," he added.

Several harbour porpoises and a minke whale were also spotted during an excursion by the charity on Saturday, along with more than 400 grey seals.

Robin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation Grey seals basking on a huge rock next to a cliffRobin Petch/Sea Watch Foundation
More than 400 grey seals were also spotted off the Flamborough coast

During its week-long whale and dolphin survey, the foundation is encouraging people to log sightings of cetacean movements around the coast, via an app called Sea Watcher.

Last year, the charity recorded 1,490 sightings around the British Isles. A total of 10,156 mammals were spotted, including 266 minke whales, 144 bottlenose dolphins, 38 killer whales and 24 humpback whales.

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