The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group believes that the whale spotted off Howth and Dublin Bay last week may be the same marine animal spotted at the foot of cliffs on Rathlin Island. The whale is thought to be moving down the Irish Sea, a rare behaviour for a humpback. Pictures of the sighting have allowed the IWDG identify it as a humpback, but they are waiting for higher-resolution images to match it with its counterpart in Howth.
The whale was spotted off Rathlin on July 11, three days before it surfaced near Dublin. The IWDG has said: "This is an extremely important sighting as it is only the second validated sighting of this species in N. Irish waters.
"In fact, as the previous sighting was closer to Colonsay, Islay, Scotland, we could easily argue that this is in fact the 1st record of a humpback whale in N. Irish waters."
Whales can cover more than 50 miles a day and migrate more than 5,000 miles in a year.
More info on the current crop of sightings can be found on the IWDG website, HERE.
Anyone spotting a whale is required by law to give them at least 100 metres room and travel parallel to their track, unless you want to end up like an unlucky pair of South African sailors, dismasted by a breaching Right Whale off Cape Town this week.