Easter Blog
Spring has arrived in Spey Bay!
We have got lots of eggsciting things going on here at The Scottish Dolphin Centre this week; we are starting our Wildlife Wanders (guided wildlife walks for visitors) as of Friday 18th April which are at 14:15 every day (weather permitting)! From Friday 18th – Sunday 20th April, we have also got an eggstra special Easter Trail! Kids and adults alike can participate at any time of the day to go and hunt for special clues located around the reserve in order to receive Easter treats! Pardon the puns – just can’t resist!
Signs of Spring are showing up all over the place, it’s hard to miss! There are lots of pretty blossom on the trees and the very exciting arrival of swallows and ospreys! The evenings are getting lighter and lighter every day and the balmy sea air feels full and warm (apart from the crazy windy weekend we had which created sand storms)!
We residential volunteers are very conveniently located, just outside the front of our house we can watch the swallows swooping and perching. I find them very uplifting with their cheery song and impressive tail feathers. Once dusk envelopes the landscape, we can also see bats flitting about the place on their nightly antics. Just a stone’s throw away is the river mouth, where this week we have seen the osprey hovering and diving. I have taken a walk up along the path towards the bridge where I also saw an osprey making its way down to the river.
On my walk, I noticed a heron silently fishing. So I sat down to watch him. Being very quiet, I saw him take position and strike. I believe he caught a fish but it all happened so quickly I can’t be sure! Whilst I was sat being very quiet, I noticed some movement on the ground level near to where I was sitting, so I kept watch and I was treated to seeing a weasel pop his head up! I saw a flash of his white underbelly and then he was gone as quickly as he had appeared!
I had a day off on Friday, and the sun was shining, so myself and fellow volunteer Fiona headed out for a bike ride. We had a brilliant day, spotting seals at nearby Port gordon. We jokingly said that it would be great to see dolphins when we got back… low and behold when we arrived we saw lots of people on the Shorewatch hill looking out. So we ran into the shop and borrowed some of the binoculars, which are available to hire for free for our visitors, and made our way across the shingle to the shore. We sat down and watched… it was pretty spectacular, we saw two bottlenose dolphins and they were breaching out of the water, over and over again, jumping out and landing on their side making a big splash! We couldn’t believe our luck!
Spring is definitely my favourite time of year, everything is growing and blossoming ready for a new year and there is a buzz of excitement in the air. Butterflies are fluttering by and bumbling bees are buzzing round the blossom. Lots of animals seemingly hang around in pairs and soon enough we will have ducklings, goslings and much more! Very exciting! Who doesn’t love an Easter chick?
