Five Medics from Ayrshire are travelled through to the East Coast of Saturday morning after being alerted to a mass stranding of pilot whales.

On arrival they were faced with 15 stranded cetaceans, eight pilot whales and seven calves.

The specially trained medics from British Divers Marine Life Rescue were actually attending a large scale training exercise to prepare them for the real event.

Life size models filled with sea water and air were placed along the coast giving the added realism of life size models and the correct weight for the mammal. Medics arrived from 9am and were still on scene at 5.30pm waiting on the next tide so they were able to use the special pontoon systems to re-float them back to sea.

In all 70 medics arrived from all over Scotland with their grab bags, area coordinators some of which had been on site from the previous night to set up the exercise had already brought other special rescue equipment to the scene which would have been released to the medics on a varied time scale as in a real stranding not all equipment and medics would arrive at once.

Rescue equipment is strategically placed throughout the UK and is always ready to go to where it is needed, including a large Rigid Inflatable Rescue Boat. A full rescue kit is based in the 3 Towns which covers an area from Arrochar down to Girvan, and also Dumfries and Galloway.

The Ayrshire and Clydeside medics have been involved in rescue not only locally but also in Skye , the East Coast.

Local Medic and Area Coordinator for Ayrshire and Clydeside David Devoy, who is from North Ayrshire, was handed the role of Incident Controller taking charge of the stranding and coordinating the rescue on the day, using the BDMLR Command and Control system then handed our other roles on the day such as Beach Master, Safety Officer and Communications, David joined BDMLR 6 about six years ago and is now also part of the Scottish Training Team training new medics around the country.

David is also with Orca Watch and travels on various Ferry Routes up on the bridge recently being the Oban Barra Route recording mammal sightings both for Orca Watch and the Government among other skills.