Go dolphin watching

AS THE SUMMER SUN PLAYS ITS STARRING ROLE, GRAB YOUR PICNIC HAMPER AND BINOCULARS and head for the coast. With the mild weather making dolphins easier to spot, there are a number of locations where you might see them ducking and diving through the waves. North of the border, the Moray Firth – an inlet of the North Sea – is a well-known playground for bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) pods, who leap clear of the water in a thrilling display of acrobatics, while, at the other end of the UK, the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) all visit the waters off Land’s End in Cornwall. For more details on where you can see this remarkable mammal, see A Walk to Take (overleaf ).