Bottlenose Dolphin Research Holiday in the Moray Firth, Scotland.

 

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, in conjunction with the University of Aberdeen, are offering a week of lab- and field-based training workshops from 29 July – 3 August 2006.

 

This exciting opportunity is a joint venture between WDCS, the world’s most active charity dedicated to the conservation and welfare of all cetaceans, and the University of Aberdeen’s world famous Lighthouse Field Station. Based in the town of Cromarty on the Black Isle, you will have unique access to the work of the field station team headed by Prof. Paul Thompson.

Throughout the holiday you will have the opportunity to learn about, and contribute to, the long-term study of the bottlenose dolphins and their marine environment first hand.

 

By working closely alongside the dedicated research team, including your guide, Dr. Kate Grellier, you will master the skills and techniques used by marine mammal scientists to study the ecology of these fascinating animals, including photo identification and acoustic techniques, and both shore and boat based observations.

 

It is this vital ongoing scientific work, much of it funded by WDCS, that delivers answers to the many questions that are raised as to how best we can maintain the welfare of the bottlenose dolphin and conserve the environment in which it lives.

 

The Moray Firth is the only area of the North Sea with a resident population of bottlenose dolphins. Since 1989, the Lighthouse Field Station team has been collaborating with other organizations to study the size and status of this population. The researchers aim to understand how natural and man-made changes in environmental conditions influence the biology of this population, and use this information to support policy development, conservation action and sustainable resource management. 

Our base for this trip is the Old Brewery in Cromarty. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle, Cromarty is over 700 years old and was built on fishing and trading links with Europe. Based in the centre of the Moray Firth, the Lighthouse Field Station is ideally situated for studies of marine mammal populations and other aspects of the Moray Firth's marine environment. 

Find out more about the work of the University of Aberdeen Lighthouse Field Station at:

www.abdn.ac.uk/zoology/lighthouse

 

 

 

Price for 2006:

 

£699 for 6 days incl. full board accommodation at the Old Brewery.

Places are strictly limited and offered on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Participants will have to make their own travel arrangements to/from Inverness.

 

For further information about the research holiday, please see our website at:

www.wdcs.org/outoftheblue  or contact the WDCS out of the blue team on:

Tel: +44 (0) 1249 449533/547

Or

Email: outoftheblue@wdcs.org