On Saturday 18th May the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) delivered another Whale Watch Ireland 2024. All Ireland Whale Watch day, now in its 22nd year, comprises free, guided land-based whale watches, which this year was planned for 11 sites in 11 coastal counties, throughout the four provinces. The main objective of Whale Watch
On the week of all Ireland Whale- Watch day, this Sat. 18th May, it seems a little odd to be writing about a species that is neither whale nor even a mammal, but a fish. However, the basking shark is no ordinary fish, and IWDG have always looked on them more like honorary whales, reflecting
Sightings Summary Review 2023 During 2023, the IWDG validated 2,684 cetacean and basking shark sighting records, combining both casual and effort related sightings. This is the highest number of sightings handled by IWDG since the group was established in 1990 and represents an 8.6% increase on 2022. During this period 329 land-based effort watches were carried out
Every few weeks we receive a sighting report which makes its way as an entry into my diary under the heading…. “Standout Sightings ”. On Wednesday 27th March, I added another. The reason for its inclusion needs a little explaining, as there is nothing that unusual these days about a common dolphin sighting off the
Some of you could be forgiven for forgetting what a basking shark looks like, that is assuming your name isn’t Pat Concannon, who runs the ferry service out of Cleggan to Inisboffin. Pat had the good fortune to see one this Mon. 19th February. But this wasn’t just another basking shark sighting record, it’s way
This week the Norwegian parliament advanced their ambition to develop deep sea mining in Arctic waters, voting to open an area for exploration in the Norwegian Sea. The controversial plan has met vigorous opposition from environmental groups, the fishing industry, the EU Commission and marine scientists. Norway’s institute of marine research has also come out
Our social media team in December were struggling to fill the #11 spot on our “Twelve Days of Christmas” series on the IWDG Facebook page, and then I remembered our famous Wexford whale “Hookie”, #11 on the Irish Humpback whale catalogue, dating back to Jan-Feb 2010, whom in Feb. 2023 our friends at Sea of
A regular effort watch on Saturday 2nd Dec. by Andrew Malcolm and Ann Trimble produced no less than a dozen fin whales and a humpback whale from Helvic Head. On Dec. 5th Sarah-Kim Watchorn reported upwards of six fin whales and again a single humpback feeding amongst them c4 km east of Helvic (see image).
Many of our readers recently were following with interest the story of the trio of Northern bottlenose whales Hyperoodon ampullatus that were recorded in inner Bantry Bay, Co. Cork between August 19th to September 3rd 2023. This contribution is by way of bookending the story, while acknowledging there may still be a degree of uncertainty