Dog walker finds unexploded mortar on Nairn beach
AN unexploded mortar has been detonated in a controlled explosion after it was dug up by dogs on Nairn beach.
Trevor Ross (45), known locally as the Nairn Stormtrooper because of his charity work dressed as a Star Wars fighter, was walking on Nairn East Beach with his labradors Phoebe, Leah and Mali when he noticed something had caught the dogs’ attention.
He said: "It was a metal object half under the sand and I thought at first it was an old car part.
"But when I picked it up it was heavier than I expected and there was a threaded piece of metal sticking out of it. I started to get a bit suspicious about it and placed it on top of a tree stump so that the dogs could not get hold of it.
"I took a photo of it on my mobile and was going to call the Coastguard but my phone died. I walked to my daughter’s work at the caravan site, charged my phone and posted the picture of the bomb on the community group Nairn Rocks site, knowing there would be a few Coastguards on it.
"Quite quickly a couple of Coastguards came back to me saying ‘dial 999,’ which I did."
Tom Rennie, volunteer station officer at Nairn Coastguard, said: "It was a two-inch Canadian mortar with high explosives in it, used during the practice D-Day landings on Nairn beach about 70 years ago.
"Some of them have smoke, some of them have phosphorous, and some have explosives. It was detonated by the Army disposal unit from Edinburgh with a controlled explosion.
"This year we have had about eight or nine devices found on the beach.
"The explosive was degraded but it did look quite unstable so the finder did the right thing by calling us."
