SCOTLAND saw 510 sightings of whales and dolphins over eight days last summer, the Sea Watch Foundation reports.

More than 750 volunteer observers from across the UK joined last year’s event reporting casual sightings. Sightings were particularly notable in Shetland.

“Humpback whales off Grishipoll in the Inner Hebrides, Risso’s dolphin groups off the Outer Hebrides, Shetland, Orkney and NE Scotland, killer whale pods off Shetland and around Caithness, common dolphins and large pods of Atlantic white-sided dolphins around Shetland were particularly notable sightings,” said sightings officer doctor Chiara Giulia Bertulli.