Tuesday 23 April 2013


RETURN OF THE DOLPHIN

On the 20th March an old friend returned to Fowey. He had been absent for almost a year and many wondered if they would ever see him again. Some said he had been hit by a boat propeller and killed while others said his body had been washed up on a remote beach and found by a fisherman. But I didn't believe the rumours that spread like wildfire through Fowey. At the time I tried to find out who had found his body and where but they were just rumours, I could find nothing concrete, no names or places.

And now Finbar the Bottlenose Dolphin is back from the dead and up to his old tricks. Last Wednesday Anne was standing looking out of our lounge window across the river when she suddenly let out a yell which got me running upstairs. A cloud of seagulls hung over a disturbance in the water. Looking through binoculars Finbar's unmistakable back and dorsal fin rose into vision and then curved over and under again. He has a very distinctive dorsal fin with a notch the size of golf ball taken out of the tip of it. The damage was probably done by a boats propeller when this intensely curious dolphin got just a bit too close to some boat he was following or playing with.

The first thing Finbar did was to visit his best friend from last year - the Boddinick car ferry. He swum around it and escorted it across the 200 meter of water that it crosses and recrosses so many times each day. Passengers were leaning over the rails and pointing in disbelief. Then he took to escorting boats, the faster and noisier they were the better he liked it. 
Welcome to my new blog. Whenever something interesting happens I plan to share it with you.