My joy that a bunch of killers are here

IT WAS lovely to see a pod of killer whales arrive in Scottish waters off the Caithness coast along with a young calf this week. As some readers may know, I recently qualified as a marine mammal medic as part of this newspaper’s Pontoon Appeal to raise money for British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the extraordinary charity that rescues beached whales and other cetaceans around the UK’s coastline and to which generous readers have now donated more than £8,000.

After weeks learning about the terrible dangers to marine wildlife – most of them thanks to man – it is wonderful to see some of our rarest and most beautiful whales do what they do best: swim happily in the wild.