More bad weather this week prevented us from getting our as
much as we would have liked. In total we were only out three days this week.
However it wasn’t all bad considering we had sightings on each day we were out.
The first day we were out was Monday the
19th conditions weren’t ideal for spotting but we still managed 3
harbour porpoise sightings. The first was a group of 2 adults that we
encountered early on the tour. The next was of a single harbour porpoise that
appeared less than 50 meters from the boat. And finally another 2 animals that surfaced
multiple times again in close proximity to the boat. We didn’t get out again
till the 22nd conditions on the day started to deteriorate a lot as
the day went on with swell and wind increasing. We only managed a single
sighting of one harbour porpoise which popped up very close to the shore after
a few surfaces it was gone beneath the waves again. After a disappointing day
on the 22nd things really improved on the 23rd very early
on in the trip we encountered group of 20 bottlenose dolphins.
Bottlenose dolphin (c) Paddy O'Dwyer - IWDG
The group contained a juvenile and a calf with
neonatal lines still evident down its side. They were heading east along the peninsula
and after spending some time with them capturing photo id images we left them
off to their own adventures. The photo id images have been processed and will
be used to see if there a match between this group and the costal population or
maybe even the Shannon dolphins.
Bottlenose dolphin (c) Paddy O'Dwyer - IWDG
Coming back from the morning tour we
encountered half the group heading out west. Again on the evening tour we
encountered members of the original group, they appeared to navigating the bay
and exploring around all the islands.
Bottlenose dolphin (c) Paddy O'Dwyer - IWDG
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