The sea off Inverness and Nairn has a new highly cute resident – a baby bottlenose dolphin.
Conservationists spotted the newborn and its mother in the Kessock Channel, close to Inverness Harbour.
And a warning has been issued to sailors and crews of boats using the port and marina to try and avoid the juvenile and not to seek it out.
Loud noise from boats could scare the dolphins and lead to the baby becoming separated from its mother.
The new addition was spotted by whale and dolphin conservation field officer and wildlife photographer Charlie Phillips who spent five minutes photographing the pair in order to identify the mother.
The parent is known as Kesslet and is a well known resident of the Moray Firth among dolphin spotters.
Kesslet also has a seven-year-old son named Charlie, who is regularly seen hunting in the Kessock Channel and in the Moray Firth.
He was most recently spotted hunting near Cromarty.
Mr Phillips was delighted at finding the dolphin calf.
He said: “I was very fortunate that a local tour boat operator, Eric Wardlaw from Phoenix Cruises at Inverness Marina, took me out very quietly and carefully so that I could get some confirmation photos and ID shots just to be doubly sure.
“After five minutes I had enough pictures to confirm it was Kesslet who was the new mum and grinning from ear to ear Eric and I headed back to the harbour.”
The findings gathered on the short boat trip will be shared with Aberdeen University’s Lighthouse Field Station at Cromarty who monitor the bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth.
The firth provides a habitat for the world’s most northerly resident population of the dolphins, which can be regularly seen from the shore.
Research published in 2012 suggested the population of the protected species was “stable” with around 200 animals.
Following his trip Mr Phillips added his warning to try and avoid the dolphins in boats, warning that interference could be potentially fatal for the newborn.
Earlier this month Mr Phillips revealed that another two of the Moray Firth’s dolphins – dubbed Spirit and Moonlight – had also had young in the Inner Moray Firth.