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cetaceans

Huge spike in common dolphin deaths around Ireland

Short beaked common dolphin

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has expressed concern over a worrying increase in reports of dead common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) around the Irish coast during the first two months of 2018. According to the figures on the group’s website 2017 was a record year for cetacean strandings in Ireland, with….

Why you should visit a dead whale

Stranded Sperm Whale Carcass, Fermoyle

In this guest post marine biology student Sean O’Callaghan, a keen cetacean enthusiast and admin of the popular Kerry’s Wild Side page on Facebook, explores some of the benefits of visiting a dead whale. Visiting a dead whale may appear on the surface to be a morbid proposition, but there are many….

Pilot whales strand on Donegal beach

Pilot Whales Donegal

Four of thirteen pilot whales that stranded overnight on a beach in Co. Donegal have died. The other nine have been successfully re-floated by a local rescue effort that involved up to 100 people at its peak according to reports. The whales were spotted on Ballyness beach at Falcarragh, Co Donegal at 8am….

Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)

harbour porpoise

Reaching a maximum length of around 1.9 metres, the diminutive harbour porpoise (also known as the common porpoise) is Ireland’s smallest cetacean species and our only species of porpoise. Found right around the Irish coastline, it is one of the most widely distributed cetaceans (whales and dolphins) in the northern hemisphere…..

IWDG humpback research charter opened to non-members

Humpback whale off West Cork

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has opened up a research charter scheduled for tomorrow morning to non-members. The formerly “members only” research trip is hoping to find and photograph the humpback whale confirmed in the area yesterday afternoon, and is scheduled to leave Reen Pier, Union Hall, West….

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncates)

Bottlenose Dolphins in Killiney Bay, Co. Dublin by Robert Kelly via the Ireland's Wildlife Flickr Group

Of the 24 species of whales and dolphins found in Irish waters perhaps the best known is the familiar bottlenose dolphin made famous in the ‘60s television show, Flipper. Almost all of the dolphin stars of film and television over the years, and the captive performing dolphins in theme parks….

Incredible photograph of blue whales in Irish waters

Blue Whales photographed in Ireland

Two blue whales cruise the waters 80-100 nautical miles off Ireland’s south coast The Irish Air Corps captured some phenomenal images last week when they encountered fin whales and two incredibly rare blue whales in Irish waters near the continental shelf edge about 80-100 nautical miles off Ireland’s south coast…..

West Cork fin whales as they should be seen

Fin whale surfacing off the West Cork coast

  After the traumatic events and harrowing images of the  last few days I thought I’d post a few photographs of  healthy fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) off the West Cork coast. This is how they look at their best:  

Baltimore whale stranding: a good news story?

Padraig Whooley of the IWDG offering interpretation of the whale stranding in Baltimore

I was getting settled at my desk yesterday morning, pondering what to write for my Irish Independent wildlife column, when the phone beeped. It was a message from Padraig Whooley, sightings coordinator with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, telling me that a suspected fin whale had live-stranded in Baltimore,….

Irish NGO calls for European Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary

On the 21st anniversary of the declaration of Irish waters as Europe’s first Whale and Dolphin sanctuary, The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has announced a campaign to extend that status to all European waters. On 07 June 1991 then Taoiseach Charles Haughey declared Ireland a Whale and Dolphin….

2012 Summer Whale Watching Courses from the IWDG

If you’re looking for a fun, educational wildlife weekend check out the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group’s summer whalewatching courses. Cape Clear Island in West Cork offers a fantastic vantage point for shore-based cetacean watching amidst fantastic wild scenery. That’s why it’s the IWDG’s destination of choice for their popular….

Anticipation Junkie

It was one of those calm spring days where you feel anything is possible. The Atlantic, while not quite flat, had only the tiniest of swells. Gazing out over a vast expanse of blue, a distant haze towards the horizon was the only impediment to otherwise perfect visibility. You got….