"I said, 'Don't be silly — we don't get those in our area'," recalled Miss Nicholson who, on inspection, discovered the reports were true and consequently spent a day and a half with other volunteers monitoring the 40ft long animal as it died a slow death and keeping crowds of onlookers at a distance.

It was believed the animal was sick and had become confused after coming through the narrow stretch of the Moray Firth by Chanonry Point.

"Unfortunately, there was not much we could do except make sure it had plenty of space to die in peace and to keep away trophy hunters," she recollected.

It is one of many such incidents she has attended as the Inverness-based regional co-ordinator of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) — the UK's largest voluntary marine mammal rescue organisation.

Formed 21 years ago when a few like-minded divers got together in response to the mass mortality of harbour seals in the Wash area of East Anglia, the charity has since been involved in more than 3000 call-outs including the high-profile attempted rescue three years ago of a northern bottlenose whale which swam up the River Thames to London.

Although she works for VisitScotland's quality and standards team, Miss Nicholson is on standby 24-hours a day for BDMLR which has six volunteers in the Inverness area.

But in a bid to boost numbers, the organisation is running a course next month in Inverness for would-be volunteers interested in training to become a marine mammal medic. Miss Nicholson emphasised that volunteers do not have to be divers and nor are they medically trained to be vets — they are trained to identify species, assess first-aid needs and to carry out correct procedures when rescuing injured or lost marine mammals when they come ashore.

Her own involvement with the organisation grew out of a childhood interest sparked by a visit to see the film, Orca. She later started doing fund-raising walks for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and then after moving to Inverness three years ago, joined BDMLR teaming up with fellow co-ordinator Natalie Simmons.

"We all do our day jobs — some people are not available during the day," she explained. "Thankfully, my job involves flexi-time. So if I am missing for two or three hours during the afternoon, for example, I use my flexi-time, or on occasions I take annual leave. The most recent call I got was about midnight and I was put on standby for a minke whale which had got into the harbour at Fraserburgh. Fortunately, another colleague got to it."

The volunteers also work closely with other organisations including the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) and specialist vets.

Many rescues in the Inverness area involve seals and Miss Nicholson recalled a call-out at Clachnaharry a couple of years ago. "A colleague came with me to the beach at lunchtime and we found a baby seal," she said. "It was very thin. If you find a young seal, you assess it from a distance. If mum is around, you stay away and leave it alone.

"You don't touch the seal until you are 100 per cent sure it has been abandoned."

In the case of the Clachnaharry seal, she checked again after work and as there had been no sign of its mother for seven hours, a decision was taken to remove it from the beach.

Rescued seals are taken to the BDMLR's small seal rehabilitation unit near John O'Groats, which was set up with the help of a grant from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It is managed by Australian Jamie Dyer, who previously spent many years rehabilitating wildlife in his homeland, and his partner Heather Grieg, who was a veterinary nurse in Glasgow before joining the unit.

One young seal recently in their care was Kessock — so called as she was discovered on the beach at North Kessock.

Rescued seal Arnie takes a tentative peep out of his temporary home. Jamie Dyer, BDMLR, Highland Seal Hospital

Although she initially dropped weight while learning to eat fish in the water, Kessock soon began to feed for herself and was subsequently re-released back into the water in the Cromarty Firth.

"We try to release seals as close to the area where they were found — hopefully she found her way back along the coast," said Miss Nicholson, who acknowledged there were "a fair share of friendly arguments" with fishermen who often see seals as a threat to fishing in the Highlands and Islands.

But while there are many success stories in rehabilitating seals, other mammals particularly cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are often more difficult to rescue especially when they are very badly injured or ill and their chances of survival are negligible.

Miss Nicholson recollected being called out to a newly-born Sowersby beaked whale just off the shore near Chanonry Point.

"It had lost its mum in very rough seas. Because it was neo-natal, it was dependent on its mother's milk. With a seal, you can rehabilitate it but not with a cetacean, unfortunately. So because there was no sign of its mum, after a period of time there was no choice but to leave it on the beach to die or to euthanase it — which is what we did.

"While we were waiting for the vet to arrive, I was asking the SSPCA officer whether it ever got any easier. He said, 'No'. It was about the fourth or fifth cetacean rescue he had attended and said it never became any easier when you knew what the outcome was going to be."

She pointed out, however, there were many successful rescues, citing the occasion last year when the BDMLR teams in Devon and Cornwall sprang into action following a mass stranding of common dolphins near Falmouth. Although they were not able to save them all, many were helped back out to sea.

Miss Nicholson reckoned that the main qualities required to become a volunteer are a love of marine life and a sense of humour, although she concedes she has shed her fair share of tears.

She also pointed out that volunteers did not always take a "hands-on" role in rescues. "We have a gentleman who claims he cannot do very much on the physical side," she explained. "But sometimes we need someone who can help with crowd control. With the sperm whale near Avoch, for example, people came down to look because a mammal of that size is not a usual sight.

"From that point of view, I can understand human curiosity but for an animal dying on the beach it is stressful to hear children crying and dogs barking. We always need people who are able to help with crowd control or explain what is happening."

* The BDMLR course will be held at the Sea Cadets Centre in South Kessock on Saturday 18th April. The one-day course costs £90 per person. Trainees are expected to equip themselves for cold water work and should bring a dry or wet suit and a change of clothes.

Further details can be obtained by visiting www.bdmlr.org.uk, or by calling Linda on 077808 37012, Natalie on 07917 684316, or Sue on 01825 765546.

Facts about marine life rescues

• On average, there are 45 live strandings around the UK each year.
• Since being formed, BDMLR has responded to more than 2460 seal call-outs, 540 cetacean call-outs, eight sharks, 14 turtles and 35 seabirds.
• The 3000th call was to an underweight grey seal pup at Wick.
• Of live strandings, 30 per cent are normally of healthy animals which can be returned to the sea. The others are normally sick, badly injured or orphaned.
• The BDMLR trains the fire and rescue service, police and other organisations in dealing with stranded cetaceans and seals.

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

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