Recent Sightings
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EVENT DATE 23/04/2021 10:00 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: River Boyne - Co. Meath | ||
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EVENT DATE 22/04/2021 20:15 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 8 |
| LOCATION: Doolin - Co. Clare | ||
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EVENT DATE 22/04/2021 14:00 |
SPECIES TYPE harbour porpoise |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: Black Head - Co. Clare | ||
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EVENT DATE 22/04/2021 13:00 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: Nimmo's Pier, Galway Docks - Co. Galway | ||
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EVENT DATE 22/04/2021 11:00 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: River Boyne - Co. Meath | ||
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EVENT DATE 21/04/2021 20:00 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 3 |
| LOCATION: Ventry - Co. Kerry | ||
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EVENT DATE 21/04/2021 17:20 |
SPECIES TYPE basking shark |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: Broadstrand Bay, Courtmacsherry Bay - Co. Cork | ||
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EVENT DATE 21/04/2021 14:36 |
SPECIES TYPE harbour porpoise |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: Iniskea Islands - Co. Mayo | ||
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EVENT DATE 21/04/2021 14:30 |
SPECIES TYPE basking shark |
NO. ANIMALS 2 |
| LOCATION: Boat Strand, Dunabrattin Head - Co. Waterford | ||
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EVENT DATE 21/04/2021 13:30 |
SPECIES TYPE bottlenose dolphin |
NO. ANIMALS 1 |
| LOCATION: Nimmo's Pier, Galway Docks - Co. Galway | ||
Recent Strandings
EVENT DATE
20/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
harbour porpoise
LOCATION: Cahore - Co. Wexford
EVENT DATE
18/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Audley Cove - Co. Cork
EVENT DATE
15/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Smerwick Harbour - Co. Kerry
EVENT DATE
12/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Fermoyle - Co. Kerry
EVENT DATE
12/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Adrigole, Bantry Bay - Co. Cork
EVENT DATE
11/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Dogs Bay - Co. Galway
EVENT DATE
10/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
pilot whale
LOCATION: Mweenish Island, Carna - Co. Galway
EVENT DATE
10/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common or striped dolphin
LOCATION: Rosses Point - Co. Sligo
EVENT DATE
09/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
common dolphin
LOCATION: Dunfanaghy - Co. Donegal
EVENT DATE
07/04/2021
SPECIES TYPE
Cuvier's beaked whale
LOCATION: Dunfanaghy - Co. Donegal
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Iconic image of a bottlenose dolphin in Dublin Bay taken by Heather O'Neill of TCD yesterday. A webinar on marine mammals in Dublin is hosted by Dublin Biosphere today at 12:30. It will be recorded but you can you can still register at:
https://www.dublinbaybiosphere.ie/events/tri-biosphere-webinar-marine-mammals/
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IRISH WHALE AND DOLPHIN GROUP
Bottlenose dolphin #008.... from the River Shannon to the Boyne![]()
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Well a lot has happened in the past 24 hours since this dolphin was first reported to the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group (IWDG) in the River Boyne, yesterday Thurs. 22nd April. Firstly, we can indeed confirm, as we suspected, that it is indeed a bottlenose dolphin, but that's really only the beginning. Our colleagues who study the bottlenose dolphin population in the Shannon Estuary, Co. Clare can confirm that this individual is one of the oldest animals on the Shannon Bottlenose Dolphin ID catalogue, and was first recorded and photo identified there 28 years ago in 1993. ![]()
Mags Daly, lead researcher on this project confirmed the match last night after comparing images taken by Aidan Curran photography last night. As you can see from this composite graphic, it's a match. ![]()
So we know its species and gender and as well, and that it has been allocated to the Shannon bottlenose dolphin catalogue as #008, he was also given the nick name "Kevin Costner", due to his rather protective nature of guarding the female bottlenose in the inner reaches of the Shannon Estuary. ![]()
So his appearance in the Boyne River system on the east coast in recent days is without precedent, as the Shannon Estuary population of bottlenose rarely venture outside of the outer estuary. Mags informs us that he'd have been recorded during the field season most years over the past decades and there were upwards of a dozen sightings of him in the Shannon during the 2020 season, when he'd have been seen up to the end of the summer, when fieldwork ended.![]()
So why he has left the Shannon estuary and ventured so far from home over the winter remains a mystery, but we know given his pedigree, that if there is any dolphin alive today, that is well adapted to surviving in a tidal river system, it's this one. There is every chance that he has been drawn upstream between the Peace Bridge and the Mary Mc Aleese Bridge today by an abundance of salmon smolts heading downstream for the Irish Sea.![]()
Please keep us posted by reporting any further sightings of #008 aka"Kevin Costner" to IWDG by using the "Report a Sighting" link on www.iwdg.ie. Huge thanks to all of you Citizen Scientists out there who have already reported your observations to IWDG. You know who you are.![]()
Padraig Whooley, IWDG Sightings Officer
Breaking news... at 11:00am this morning we started receiving reports of a dolphin in the River Boyne, Drogheda. Having viewed both images and video footage we can't currently confirm which species it is, but it is a large dolphin and likely to be bottlenose dolphin. It's a long way from open water and upstream of the Peace Bridge in the area known locally as the Mell, which is about 7kms from the Irish sea. It appears to be swimming strongly and the area is still tidal and will hopefully turn back towards open water on the falling tide. But for now we would caution against intervening, as the animal appears in good health. ![]()
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IWDG extend a big thanks to the Jason Clarke & Carmel Gormley and local media for reporting this unusual sighting and would ask that any sightings with images be reported to us on www.iwdg.ie, where you can just click on the "Report a Sighting" Link on the homepage. These records will enable us monitor the animal and establish whether it stays in the area for a while, or leaves on the next falling tide, which hopefully it will.![]()
Images or video can be emailed to sightings@iwdg.ie or sent to us on What's App to 086 3850568.![]()
Pádraig Whooley, IWDG Sightings Officer
Iconic image of a bottlenose dolphin in Dublin Bay taken by Heather O'Neill of TCD yesterday. A webinar on marine mammals in Dublin is hosted by Dublin Biosphere today at 12:30. It will be recorded but you can you can still register at:![]()
![]()
www.dublinbaybiosphere.ie/events/tri-biosphere-webinar-marine-mammals/
