These Dolphins Are Doing What They Do Best By Leaping Out Of The Water With Style

By Katie Evans

THREE FUN-LOVING dolphins put on an impressive display for onlookers at as they breached and flipped through the waters of Chanonry Point near Inverness.

The bottlenose dolphins including Honey, a young eleven-year-old mum and two youngsters can also be seen swimming in perfect unison, appearing to race each other through the water in the Highlands of Scotland.

Another image shows Lunar, a young male dolphin, continuing the show for his audience as he flicks his tail impressively in mid-air.

The harmonious trio appears to be having a great time and enjoying the good weather as they leap through the air.

The charming photographs were taken by Charlie Phillips, Wildlife Photographer and Field Officer for marine charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC).

“This wasn’t hunting behaviour, it was just pure fun, what we call social interaction,” he explained.

“I kept rattling away with my big camera at 14 frames a second and captured a few sequences of the three dolphins breaching together as they sped along.

“It was one of these moments that really makes your day – even doing a job like mine where I watch, photograph and film these amazing wild, free dolphins twelve months of the year.”

Bottlenose dolphins can be mistaken for possessing a permanent smile on their faces due to the unique shape of their mouths.

Known to live up to 50 years of age, these extremely social mammals move around in pods made up of between two and 30 dolphins.

Charlie says that there were several different groups of bottlenoses in the area on that day, the majority of these consisting of mothers and their calves.

“I know these local dolphins very well as they are part of the resident population of around 200 individuals that have been identified by their naturally occurring dorsal fin markings by Aberdeen University’s Lighthouse Field Station,” he added.

“I use my photographs to help this ongoing project plus the work I do for WDC which is our “Adopt a Dolphin” project where the public can adopt one of six individual dolphins that I see on a regular basis over the seasons.”

To keep up with Charlie’s dolphin watching and conservation work, be sure to follow him on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dolphinchaz/ 

For more information see www.mediadrumworld.com