Marine Wildlife
#MarineWildlife - Northern Ireland's Exploris aquarium has put out a call to Lisburn locals to help them track down a notorious resident seal who's become somewhat of a landlubber. As Lisburn Today reports, Sammy – as the seal's been named…
#MarineWildlife - How do whales, dolphins and porpoises hunt for fish? By using 'sound searchlights', according to Danish marine researchers. As BBC News reports, the team of marine scientists at Aarhus University used underwater microphones to study the hunting behaviour…
Strangford's Horse Mussels Threatened By Stormont Inaction Says Audit
31st March 2015 Marine Wildlife
#MarineWildlife - Northern Ireland acted too slowly to protect endangered horse mussels in Strangford Lough, according to a new report. The findings by the Northern Ireland Audit Office, as the News Letter reports, have damned Stormont's failure to ensure proper…
#OnTV - Living the Wildlife returns to our screens tonight (Tuesday 24 March) on RTÉ One with a look at the "dive-bombing" great skuas of Inishark, one of the bounty of species along the Connemara coast. Among those celebrating the…
#MarineWildlife - New marine protections for Northern Ireland's waters could provide a further sanctuary for our smallest marine mammal, the harbour porpoise. As the Belfast Telegraph reports, the proposed Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) for the area between Belfast Lough and…
#MarineWildlife - The first basking shark sightings of 2015 were logged earlier this month, as Ireland's Wildlife reports. Bridget Healy spotted two of the ocean's second-largest fish from the shore at Ardfield, near Clonakilty in West Cork last Monday 9…
Marine Wildlife News: Seals Returned To Wild, Dolphin Says Adieu, Irish Sea Life Revealed
14th March 2015 Marine Wildlife
#MarineWildlife - Cute by name, cute by nature: Sherkin, Buoy and Splash were returned to the wild after being nursed back to health by the volunteers at Seal Rescue Ireland. As the Irish Examiner reports, the three young seals –…
#MarineWildlife - A Canadian woman has died after a grey whale crashed into a tourist boat off Mexico. As the Globe and Mail reports, the 45-year-old woman, who has not been named, was in a vessel with a group of…
#MarineWildlife - "A sad end to a beautiful bird" is how the Golden Eagle Trust described the news that remains of a white-tailed eagle were found near Lower Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh earlier this month. As RTÉ News reports, Ingar…
Deepwater Whale Strandings Are 'Unusual Mortality Event' – But Sonar Not Confirmed As Culprit
25th February 2015 Marine Wildlife
#MarineWildlife - The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has issued a joint statement with fellow marine wildlife conservation groups on what's been labelled as "an unusual mortality event" involving Cuvier's beaked whales in Scotland and Ireland. Last month, scientists…
#MarineWildlife - The mysteries of Ireland's humpback whales have got the 'TouchCast' treatment as part of RTÉ's new interactive storytelling format. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, scientists have recently tracked first the firm time ever whales travelling between popular spots…
#MarineWildlife - Locals have been astounded by a mass stranding of up to 200 pilot whales in New Zealand. According to the Irish Independent, volunteers were yesterday (13 February) fighting to save the whales that were still alive after beaching…
Real-Life 'Hunt for Red October' Linked To Beaked Whale Strandings
5th February 2015 Marine Wildlife
#MarineWildlife - Could the recent mass strandings of Cuvier's beaked whales in British and Irish waters be connected with the recent real-life 'Hunt for Red October'? Last month scientists in Scotland were baffled by an "unusually large number" of strandings…
#MarineWildlife - Preliminary results from the post-mortem on the female killer whale that stranded in Waterford last week show no obvious cause of death. As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the five-metre-long female orca was discovered near Tramore last Friday (30…
Inflatable Whales Pop up at Portsmouth International Port for Marine Wildlife Festival
3rd February 2015 Marine Wildlife
#portsmouthwhales – It's not often children get the chance to put their head in the mouth of a shark, but that's just one exciting adventure they can have at Portsmouth International Port's Marine Wildlife Festival in February. It won't be…
#MarineWildlife - A conspicuous chunk missing from the tail fluke of a killer whale resident in Scottish waters is evidence of an altercation with a shark, as BBC News reports. The orca, known as John Doe, is one of the…
