1 The origins of aquatic mammals

The Moray Firth is in the northeast of Scotland, and its beautiful and unspoiled coastline stretches for more than 800 km. It's also home to one of just three populations of bottlenose dolphins that live around the UK. But unless they're protected, these amazing creatures would struggle to survive. Today I'm in stunning Spey Bay to find out why.

Spey Bay lies on the south side of the Moray Firth, just to the east of where the River Spey flows into the sea, and it's a haven for the many birds and mammals that live along the shoreline.

There are 130 dolphins in the Moray Firth, but sadly research has shown that the population is declining by 6% per year. These intelligent animals are increasingly vulnerable to threats like overfishing, getting tangled in nets, and pollution.

But if you don't have an expensive camera or specialist training, don't despair. Monitoring dolphins is something that anyone can do. Here at Chanonry Point, we're a little bit further along the Moray Firth, towards Inverness, and the dolphins come in so close, they're practically right up to the beach. One of reasons for that is that there's very strong tidal flow here, which acts a bit like a food conveyor belt, and the dolphins just hang around and wait for the fish to come past, which they can then ambush.