I had spent three days sat on the headland looking out to sea, observing fast moving Common Dolphins and distant Minke Whales feeding in the deep trench.
It was a flat calm day, so any movement in the water was easy to spot. From my right, I saw a number of fins breaking the surface. I sent up my drone to film what I initially thought were Orca. They were much larger than Common and Bottlenose Dolphins and some appeared black at white in colour.
Risso's Dolphins! A species I had never seen before and a rare sight in UK waters. I filmed the pod as they swam across in front of me, diving deep for minutes at a time before intermittently coming up for air.
As they disappeared the headland to my left, I noticed one had been left behind and appeared injured.
The reason for its unusual behaviour became apparent as I used my drone to investigate - the female dolphin had just given birth!
This intimate footage of mother and newborn calf is thought to be the youngest Risso's dolphin ever filmed in the wild.
The calf still shows sign of its fetal folds - marks on its body where it was packed tightly in its mothers womb. Its dorsal fin is yet to stiffen, and its mother does not let it swim more than a few feet away from her.
After a few minutes filming, her midwife rises from the deep to check in on the calf's progress, assisting her in these vital few hours after birth.
Very little is known about these creatures. They are difficult to study as they are so wary of humans and dive to great depths to feed on their prey.
Hopefully, this young Dolphin will rejoin the rest of pod and continue to grow and feed around UK waters!
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