'Miracle' sunburned dolphin gives birth to calf
Dolphin Spirtle, left, and her baby
- Published
A dolphin that survived being badly burned after stranding on mudflats has given birth to a calf.
Known to conservationists as Spirtle, the bottlenose dolphin was badly injured while she was stranded out of water for 24 hours in the Cromarty Firth, in the Highlands.
She was spotted by chance by a couple who had got lost trying to drive to a dolphin-watching spot miles away on the Moray Firth in May 2016.
Rescuers refloated the dolphin but feared she would eventually succumb to her injuries.
An image of Spirtle and her sunburn in 2016
Spirtle, part of a population of Moray Firth bottlenose dolphins, is thought to have given birth to her baby last Wednesday.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation field officer Charlie Phillips has been monitoring Spirtle, along with University of Aberdeen scientists and others.
He described the sunburned dolphin as a "miracle girl".
A passenger on a dolphin-spotting boat, Mischief, alerted Mr Phillips to the birth.
The field officer said it was some much-needed good news after the deaths of a number of dolphins from a group that got into difficulty in shallow water in the Cromarty Firth earlier this month.
Spirtle is believed to have given birth to her calf last week
Most of the group of up to 50 animals managed to get to safety of deeper water, but 13 have been found dead.
It is not yet known where the group came from, and they are not part of the Moray Firth population.