Chanonry Point

Chanonry Point reaches east from Fortrose on the Black Isle into a narrow neck of the inner Moray Firth, with a small white-painted lighthouse at its seaward tip. The geography is the whole listing: the channel between the point and Fort George on the south side narrows to under a mile, and the tide pours through that gap fast enough to push deep-water fish, salmon, sea trout, mackerel, into the rip on the rising flood. The Moray Firth’s resident bottlenose dolphin pod (the only one in the North Sea, around 200 animals strong) follows the fish in, and the result is the most reliable land-based bottlenose viewing anywhere in Britain.

On a good day, the dolphins surface within thirty or forty metres of the shingle. Sightings cluster in the hour or so leading up to high tide; the Whale and Dolphin Conservation outpost in the lighthouse cottage and the local tide-table sites publish daily guidance through the season. Visiting in poor light or onshore wind is poorer fare, calm bright days at the right tidal state are when the rip really animates.

Free public access. A small car park sits beside Fortrose & Rosemarkie golf course; the walk to the point is a few hundred yards along the dunes, past the lighthouse keeper’s cottages. No facilities at the point, wind off the firth is sharp even in summer, so go layered. The shingle is exposed and the rocks at the tip can be slippery on a wet day.