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Displaying items by tag: natural history

#MARINE WILDLIFE - "Until a mere couple of decades ago, virtually all we knew of the variety and distribution of the whales and dolphins around Ireland was judged from the catches of a short-lived Norwegian whaling station in north Co Mayo in the early 20th century and years of random recording."
So writes Michael Viney in last Saturday's Irish Times, as he welcomes the 21th anniversary of the founding of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).
"It can celebrate magnificent achievements," he writes, "both in turning so many Irish eyes seaward and in launching a new chapter in the island’s natural history."
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the IWDG will be hosting its 21st anniversary banquet at the Grand Hotel in Malahide this Saturday.
Over the past two decades, it has grown from its core work of creating a proper record of stranded cetaceans, to cataloguing the diverse array of living whales and dolphins that populate Ireland's waters today, adding "new knowledge" of "international interest" every year.
The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#MARINE WILDLIFE - "Until a mere couple of decades ago, virtually all we knew of the variety and distribution of the whales and dolphins around Ireland was judged from the catches of a short-lived Norwegian whaling station in north Co Mayo in the early 20th century and years of random recording..."

So writes Michael Viney in last Saturday's Irish Times, as he welcomes the 21th anniversary of the founding of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

"It can celebrate magnificent achievements," he writes, "both in turning so many Irish eyes seaward and in launching a new chapter in the island’s natural history."

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the IWDG will be hosting its 21st anniversary banquet at the Grand Hotel in Malahide this Saturday.

Over the past two decades, it has grown from its core work of creating a proper record of stranded cetaceans, to cataloguing the diverse array of living whales and dolphins that populate Ireland's waters today, adding "new knowledge" of "international interest" every year.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Marine Wildlife

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.