Coronavirus: Itching to get back to 'best job in the world'
- Published
A dolphin calf in a picture taken by Charlie Phillips
Charlie Phillips hopes the easing of lockdown restrictions will allow him to get back to the job he loves - "watching" dolphins.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) field officer and wildlife photographer would spend hours observing the animals in the Moray, Cromarty and Beauly firths in the Highlands.
His "office" is Chanonry Point, a narrow peninsula sticking out into the Moray Firth on the Black Isle.
After lugging his heavy camera gear down to the point's stony beach, he will stand in the wind and sharp showers of rain and sleet photographing bottlenose dolphins as they hunt and interact close to shore.
Mr Phillips had been looking forward to another season of work when the lockdown happened
Images among the 70,000-80,000 images Mr Phillips takes in a year helps WDC and University of Aberdeen scientists understand the movements and behaviour of individual mammals.
Last year, some of the animals in the Scottish population of about 200 dolphins were recorded making some unusual long-distance journeys.
They were spotted off the coast of south west Ireland and also the Netherlands.
Mr Phillips' photography helps scientists monitor a Scottish bottlenose dolphin population
"The dolphins' behaviour was really unusual. The dolphins were turning up in places where they had never been seen before," Mr Phillips told BBC Scotland's The Nine.
"So this season I was desperate to get out as early as I could to try and figure out what was going on.
"Just as the dolphins were arriving back in the area around Chanonry Point the lockdown happened."
Bottlenose dolphins hunt and interact in the Moray Firth and neighbouring Highland firths
Mr Phillips has stayed at home in Inverness and has been gratefully receiving snippets of information from people who live close to where the dolphins can be seen.
He hopes that with an easing of restrictions later this week, he will be able to get back to work and see them for himself.
"People often say that I have got the best job in the world and I say 'yes it is - when the sun is shining'."
All images are copyright of Charlie Phillips/WDC.