With its salt marsh, mudflats, and sandy beaches, Lincolnshire’s 50 miles of coastline offer sanctuary to one of the UK’s most iconic marine mammals, a pinniped instantly recognisable by its distinguished roman nose: the grey seal. The unspoiled sand dunes at Donna Nook are internationally important for birthing grey seals, and due to its mainland location, many visitors enjoy the annual spectacle under the watchful eye of the reserve’s wardens. But what of other marine mammals? Not the semi-aquatics like the seals, who must return to land to give birth; no, I am talking about those amazing fully aquatic mammals, cetaceans – the whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Perhaps because of the climate change-driven redistribution of prey species, sightings of dolphins and whales around the UK are certainly increasing, though so far, much of the notable activity has been along the UK’s west coast. Rare sightings in Lincolnshire made the news last year – a common dolphin at Anderby Creek and a large pod of bottlenose dolphins at Saltfleetby – but could this become the norm?