It is finally here – National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2022!
We’ve had a busy first weekend with almost 50 recorded sightings across the country. This year we will be making daily “Sightings in the Spotlight” videos to highlight our most exciting sightings and show what we have been up to across the country and in New Quay. Find our first Sightings in the Spotlight video here. As the sightings in these videos account for those submitted before 5pm I will now do a quick overview of our first weekend of National Whale and Dolphin Watch 2022.
Saturday 23rd July – Sunday 24th July
We are thankful to have sightings from all over the country over our first weekend. The majority of our sightings come from Scotland with killer whales, harbour porpoise, Risso’s dolphins, minke whale, bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins. George Rankine spotted 80 common dolphins through a scope off Eyrepoint, Isle of Raasay – a mix of juveniles and adults. The killer whales were sighted from Mull Head in Orkney.
In England, it has been mainly sightings of bottlenose dolphins, harbour porpoise and seals. Over in the Farne Islands, Helen Fernuhough had over 100 grey seals and in Devon and Gloucestershire we had some some harbour porpoises sightings. We’ve had some great sightings here in New Quay from land and sea. Christina Worth took the below photo from the coastal path as she walked back to Cwmtydu. Our interns have also been carrying out two hour landwatches and Dolphin Spotting Boat Trips submitting their sightings from sea.
If you’re in New Quay this week be sure to come and visit us at our Dolphin Hub (yellow building near the bottom car park) to find out all about NWDW and enter our New Quay Raffle. We have various events taking place throughout the week that you can take part in including art workshops (online and in person), a pub quiz, sunset cruise and live music night. All the details can be found here on our events page.
To stay up to date with our latest Sightings in the Spotlight videos you can head to our TikTok or Instagram pages. Or for more details of our latest NWDW sightings head to this page. Don’t forget if you get out and conduct a watch this year you will be automatically entered into our Observers Prize Draw for the chance to win some amazing prizes.
Sign up for our Evening with Sea Watch Foundation on Thursday 28th July here. Our Research Assistant, Rebecca will be hosting with talks from Ceri Beynon-Davies (Natural Resources Wales), Celia Eardley (Sea Watch intern) and Katrin Lohrengel (Monitoring Officer).
Katie Baker Communication and Outreach Officer
