Stranded dolphins rescued from Sanday beach

WILDLIFE rescue organisation BDMLR Orkney were called on Monday afternoon to two common dolphins which had live stranded in Kettletoft Bay, Sanday.

The dolphins had been spotted by a resident who happened to be passing and promptly reported to British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) area coordintator Emma Neave-Webb, who said: “On arrival to the stranding site, medics found the animals upright on the sand and in very good condition. As the bay is shallow with a pier and island to hamper a clear path to the open sea, and the tide was falling still, the decision was made to uplift and relocate the animals to an area where access to deep water and open sea was much easier.

“Using a trailer, medics quickly and calmly relocated the animals and were able to get them back into the water together. They quickly became active and headed off away from the beach looking strong.

“Medics soon lost sight of them as by now it was pitch dark, but at last sight they were together moving slowly in the right direction so fingers crossed for a happy outcome.”

She added: “It is likely this was a mother and larger juvenile pairing who had been feeding in the shallows in Kettletoft Bay and had simply been caught out by the falling tide. “Interestingly, we had two Common dolphin feeding in the same bay in November last year and sadly again one stranded and died. Common dolphin are a species which are becoming more frequently recorded in Orkney, so it is likely we see an increase in strandings of this species going forward as they are perhaps not familiar with Orkney waters.”

She also said that she was very pleased to say there was no sign of them anywhere today, Tuesday, so it  looks like they got away safely.

Ms Neave-Webb added: “We’d like to thank medics Russell Neave and Imogen Sawyer and Sanday resident Ian O’Gorman for all your help in some pretty challenging conditions. Also a big thank you to the Sanday Coastguard team for valuable safety support for our team and finally, many thanks to Tracy Ranger for the loan of the trailer. Thank you all, couldn’t have done it without you. 

“One thing we have learnt from this is that we desperately need some dolphin stretchers to aid with rescues going forward. If you would like to help fund this, please do donate via our JustGiving page.https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/BDMLRorkney “