Posts Categorized: News

What makes for an interesting cetacean sighting record?  Take the most recent sightings feature we wrote up here on www.iwdg.ie, which was Nick Massett's account of the killer whale pair in Dingle Bay on March 5th.  There was actually nothing all that unusual about a pair of killer whales passing through the Blaskets, but it

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For those of you who missed tonight's main RTE News, click on this link and scroll down to end of article for footage of the two killer whales known as John Coe and the other who is likely to Aquarius. https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2018/0307/945741-whales-blasket-islands/   Just looking back on our validated sighting records of this individual, we attach

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Yesterday morning, Monday 5th March was a rare day of calm seas, but was all the motivation that IWDG's Nick Massett needed to brush the snow off his RIB and headed out into Dingle Bay, with crew Britta Wilkens and Simon Crompton to see what the cetacean activity was like. They weren't disappointed.  Initially they

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Strandings Update

 2017 had an unusually high number of strandings in Ireland with 263 recorded, way up on previous years. However, as we come to the end of February, a quick look at the records shows a huge increase already this year. In last years 'record' year, 67 strandings were recorded in the first two months of

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As we reach the end of February 2018, we now have an unprecedented 80 dead dolphins (mostly common dolphins) on Irish beaches. To give some idea of the reality of this, here is a collage of half of these – 40 stranded dolphin photos. Viewers may find these pictures upsetting – they are. A grim

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The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) are at the Ballynature event in Ballynure village, Co. Antrim, this Saturday, 24th February from 12 noon – 5 pm. ​ This has become a major annual event and over 40 organisations will be in attendance. A range of conservation and related bodies will be present and the event effectively takes over the whole

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For the last seven years or so, the news from Ireland's seashore has become something of a broken record in late winter/early spring. Each year, the message is the same – ever increasing numbers of stranded cetaceans recorded on the Irish coast. Each year thinking, wow, we must have reached a peak now. And each

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About the Event Workshop Leader: Pádraig Whooley, Irish Whale & Dolphin Group Sightings Officer Venue: National Biodiversity Data Centre, Beechfield House, WIT West Campus, Carriganore, Waterford Date: Saturday, 21st April, Time: 10:00 – 16:00 Audience: Beginner and intermediate recorders; possible surveyors, MMO's Fee: €30 standard; €20 student Following on last year's successful 1 day workshop

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Report update, Feb. 8th 2018 Andrew Malcolm reports another Co. Waterford fin whale sighting yesterday Wed. 7th Feb. in the area 5-10 Km south of Helvic Head. Due to the distances involved, to observe this and any other whales that may be in the area, good optics will be required. This latest sighting suggests that

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Two dolphins were recovered by the IWDG from Co Kerry today for post-mortem examination.  thisfollows two more recovered on Saturday, one from north Donegal and one from Inverin, Co Galway.  This is part of a contract extension the IWDG in collaboration with the RVL Cork and GMIT won from the Marine Institute and NPWS to

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