WHEN Gilbert the northern bottle-nosed whale swam into Bournemouth waters last summer, the town went mad; thronging the pier and training their binoculars, just for a glimpse of her.

Gilbert sadly died but now a marine research charity wants to tap into our love for whales and dolphins and sign up volunteers to watch for these creatures along the Dorset coast.

The watch will take place from August 7-15 and the Sea Watch Foundation especially needs volunteers to cover Durlston Head and Poole Bay.

Sightings Officer Gemma Veneruso said: “We are hoping to recruit people who are willing to commit to spend some time during the watch, looking out at locations near where they live.”

She said the charity hoped to persuade sailors and commercial boat operators working in the area to join the effort, while at sea.

But what will they be looking out for? A pod of dolphins has been spotted this week in the waters between Hengistbury Head and Boscombe pier but the Sea Watch Foundation says it is also interested in harbour porpoises, short-beaked common dolphins and pilot whales.

“Harbour porpoises are seen along Dorset’s coast throughout the year,” says Gemma. “Bottlenose dolphin sightings peak between September and April and short-beaked dolphins are more likely to be seen between August and December.”

Further out to sea, around eight miles from the coast, long-finned pilot whales can occasionally be seen and, as Gilbert proved, even more exotic species can sometimes stray into the area. In 1897 a 65-foot carcass, thought at the time to be a blue whale, was washed up on Boscombe beach. However, because of its size it is highly unlikely to have been swimming off the Bournemouth coast and had probably died and been carried in from the ocean on the tides.

So, if Daily Echo readers want to help the whale and dolphin watch, what would a volunteer have to do?

“We’ll send information about what to look out for and how to record sightings,” says Gemma. “But they will need binoculars, a compass is useful but not essential, and it’s great if they have a camera so they can record sightings in pictures.”

The information will be added to that gathered from the larger public watches which are taking place, and be recorded on the Sea Watch Foundation’s database of cetaceans.

Since the watch began in 2002 there have been more than 3,500 cetacean sightings around the UK coast. In total, 28 species of dolphin, whales and porpoise have been recorded in our waters, 12 of these during National Whale and Dolphin Watch.

• If you're interested contact sightings@seawatchfoundation