• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Gift Vouchers
    • Binoculars and Scopes
    • View Cart
    • Your Account
      • edit-account
      • edit-address
      • lost-password
  • Wildlife Tours
    • Discover Wildlife Weekends
    • Guided Wildlife and Birding Walks
    • Custom Wildlife and Birding Tours
  • Schools
  • Books
  • News
    • Irish Wildlife News
    • International Wildlife News
    • Wildlife Events
    • Wildlife Press Releases
  • Articles
    • Blog
      • Birding
      • Wildlife Photography
      • Whales and Dolphins
      • Mammals
      • Wildlife Podcasts
        • The Calendar Road
      • Biodiversity
      • Wildlife Calendar
    • Species Profiles
      • Amphibians
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Fungi
      • Invertebrates
      • Mammals
      • Plants
      • Reptiles
    • Feature Articles
      • Choosing Binoculars
      • Birding for Beginners
      • How to watch whales and dolphins
      • How to watch Basking Sharks
      • Wildlife travel
    • Wildlife Portfolio
    • Wild Wide Web
    • Reviews
      • Book Reviews
      • Gear Reviews
        • Wildlife Optics
          • Binocular Reviews
          • Spotting Scope Reviews
        • Wildlife Clothing
        • Wildlife Accessories
  • Work with us
    • Write for us
    • Advertise with us
    • Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Wildlife Marketing Services
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Contact

Ireland's Wildlife

Irish wildlife, nature and biodiversity

You are here: Home / Wild Blog / Eco Tourism / West Cork Whale Watching: Front Page News

West Cork Whale Watching: Front Page News

December 3, 2012 by Calvin Jones 4 Comments

Whale watching in West Cork is in the news again after this incredible shot made the front page of several national newspapers today.

A humpback whale breaches alongside a boat in West Cork (c) Simon Duggan

A humpback breaching off the West Cork Coast (c) Simon Duggan, All Rights Reserved

Humpback Whales in West Cork: Front Page News

It is a once-in-a-lifetime moment captured by whale watcher and long time Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) member Simon Duggan. The boat in the background — Jerry Smyth’s “Wave Chieftain” of Aquaventures Dive Centre in Baltimore — offers a real sense of scale… and if you look closely you’ll see that all of the whale watchers on the Wave Chieftain are looking the wrong way!

The whale watching off West Cork at the moment is truly world class. It’s phenomenal to have such a concentration of humpback and fin whales feeding in an area that’s so accessible to whale watchers.

A close encounter with these ocean giants makes it onto a lot of people’s “bucket list” of things to do before you die. It is one of the most humbling and memorable wildlife encounters you’ll ever experience… and right now it’s on our doorstep off the West Cork coast.

For more information check out the report on the aggregation of humpback whales off the Irish south coast on the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group’s website.

With the humpbacks making headlines and grabbing front-page real-estate in the national press it’s easy to assume that this is an unprecedented occurrence. While it is absolutely amazing to have such a concentration of cetaceans in one place, the truth is that exceptional whale watching is nothing new in West Cork.

My first encounter with fin and humpback whales in Ireland was back in 2004, and I’ve had some fantastic whale watching trips over the years since, including this amazing encounter with fin whales last year and a memorable encounter with a brace of humpbacks off West Cork earlier this year.

These large baleen whales spend a significant chunk of time in Irish inshore waters every year, following the large aggregations of herring and sprat on which they feed. Time it right and there’s no doubt that Ireland’s south coast offers some of the best whale watching opportunities anywhere in the world.

Filed Under: Eco Tourism, Featured, Whales and Dolphins, Wildlife Locations Tagged With: dolphins, fin whale, humpback whale, west cork, whale watching

About Calvin Jones

Calvin Jones is a freelance writer, author, birder and lifelong wildlife enthusiast. He is founder and editor of IrelandsWildlife.com and founder and wildlife guide of Ireland's Wildlife Tours offering wildlife and birding holidays on Ireland's south coast.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet Mc Evoy says

    December 3, 2012 at 16:34

    He’s behind you.!

    Reply
  2. Caoimhe Brennan says

    December 11, 2012 at 16:21

    Hi, fantastic photo ! 🙂 I would like to order a print of it, do you know how I go about that ? Thanks, Caoimhe

    Reply
    • Calvin Jones says

      December 13, 2012 at 14:29

      Hi Caoimhe… not sure if prints are available… if you email me your details via the contact form I’ll pass them on to the photographer.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search the site

  • Microthemer - Visual editor for your WordPress site

Subscribe to the mailing list








Supporting Ireland’s Wildlife

  • Microthemer - Visual editor for your WordPress site

*****

Footer

Experience Ireland’s Wildlife for yourself

Breaching humpback whale Ireland

Join us on a wildlife adventure on Ireland’s Wild South Coast… and find out first hand why we call this Europe’s Undiscovered Wildlife Frontier.

Find out more…

Ireland's Wildlife runs on the Genesis Framework from StudioPress · Hosted with InterServer

Recent Additions

  • 2023 Discover Wildlife Weekend Dates
  • Review: Hawke Frontier APO 10×42 Binocular
  • Book Review: Crossbill Guides, Ireland
  • Avian Influenza hits Irish seabird colonies
  • German Precision Optics (GPO) Passion HD 10×42 Binocular Review
  • Beneficial Garden Insects and How to Attract Them to Your Garden
  • Cuckoo spit/spittlebug foam on plants is harmless. Please leave it alone.
  • Purple Heron: an epic end to our spring Discover Wildlife Weekend

Tags

audio binoculars biodiversity birding birds Birdwatch Ireland books cetaceans citizen science CJ Wildlife competition conservation Cork fin whale full size binoculars garden birds garden wildlife Golden Eagle Trust Hawke humpback whale Ireland IWDG Kerry national biodiversity data centre npws optics photography raptors reintroduction review reviews spring stranding surveys Vanguard west cork whales whales and dolphins whalewatching whale watching white tailed eagle Wildlife wildlife crime wildlife photography wildlife podcasts

Take it from the top....

Copyright © 2023 Ireland's Wildlife · Site Design by West Cork Websites · Content by CJ Writing

Manage Cookie Consent
Like most sites, Ireland's Wildlife uses cookies to improve functionality, enhance your user experience and to gauge the popularity of our content.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}