Dolphins put on show for sailor off North East coast

May 30 2009 The Journal

THIS amazing picture of a dolphin was captured by a grandfather sailing off the Northumberland coast.

John Thorburn, 64, was sailing his yacht, The Spinny, off the coast of Budle Bay when he heard a strange sound.

John, who ran a fish processing business before he retired, said: “I heard these squeaks and when I went to investigate, I realised it was dolphins.

“They swam beside my yacht for a mile-and-a-half.”

John, a grandfather-of-one from North Street in Seahouses, continued: “It was amazing, I have sailed and canoed round the Farnes since I was in my late teens, and apart from seeing a whale once and one or two dolphins in the distance, I haven’t really seen anything.

“But this pod of eight dolphins swam with my yacht for about 20 minutes.

“There were two on one side and two on another and they crossed each other in front of the bow.

“Others jumped out of the water – it was magical to watch.

“It was like they were putting a show on for me, I’m so glad I had my mobile phone.

“Dolphins are very intelligent creatures and they take joy in what they do – it was a real performance.

John spotted the dolphins at 5.45pm on Sunday. Professor of Marine Biology, Matt Bentley, of Newcastle University, said: “Dolphins get excited when they see boats – they play and swim in the wake. These dolphins would have been as interested in John as he was in them. They are very sociable and very playful. There is a good chance if you are in the water, Northumberland is a good place to see dolphins.

“A recent study showed that there were 600 individual dolphins off the coast in the North East in the space of a year.

“There are three types of dolphin which can be seen in this part of the world, including the harbour porpoise, the common bottlenose and Risso’s dolphin. You also get pilot whales around here too.

“I think the reason there are more dolphin sightings are because although there are less fishermen, there are more leisure sailors who are more likely to report sightings.”