Irrawaddy Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris)

on the Irrawaddy River, outside Mandalay, 2014.

These are tricky things to photograph because they don\'t jump, they just pop up for a couple of seconds to breathe and disappear, and there is no way to know where they are going to surface next. These are pretty much the best photos I got. Fantastic creatures!

You are, of course, a complete and utter lucky bastard

I am indeed. Funny thing though, NZ is pretty much the cetacean capital of the world and Irrawaddy Dolphin was only my eighth species I have seen in the wild. Erm, number nine was Ganges Dolphin..... even worse photos were obtained of those!

My wild total is only slightly less so that is some consolation.

Along with various dolphin sightings I haven't been able to pin down to a species, I have seen:

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) - Northern coastline of the Isle of Skye, near Staffin - 2010

Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) - Numerous locations on Scottish and Northumberland coastline over the years.

Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus) - Numerous locations on NW Scottish coastline over the years.

Shortbeaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis) - two definite sightings: on ferry between Mallaig and Armadale (Skye) in 2010, in Firth of Clyde near northern coast of Isle of Arran in 2011.

Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) - Numerous occasions in the waters around the Isle of Skye.

Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) - one sighting of a living beached whale, which died shortly after I arrived, at Beadnell in 2010. One brief sighting off the southwest coast of Skye in 2001.

And the sighting with which I am most pleased.... Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) - one sighting when on a boat off the coast of Skye, sailing from Elgol to Loch Coruisk, in 1999.