‘I don’t want to hear the gunshots’: how the Isle of Lewis battled to save 55 stranded whales

When Scotland's largest recorded mass stranding struck this summer, volunteers swung into action. Here they recall the hard work ... and the heartbreak

At 8.13am on Sunday 16 July, Mairi Carrey was wondering how to celebrate her wedding anniversary when her phone buzzed. At that same moment, Lyndsey Dubberley was looking down a steep hillside at the haunting sight of a sole figure - a local crofter - surrounded by 55 dead and dying whales strewn across the beach. It was eerie to see these beautiful creatures on land when they should be in the sea," she recalls.

Fighting to save a pod of stranded pilot whales on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides was not in the plans of either woman that day. But Carrey, a trained archaeologist who now works for Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and Dubberley, a former member of the fire service's water rescue unit, were ready. Both volunteer for British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), a charity that responds to strandings of whales, dolphins and porpoises across the UK.