Watch the incredible whale sighting off West Cork below.
The sighting, which shows a local humpback whale up close and personal, has left locals flabbergasted as they spotted the creature next to their boat.
Just this week, there have been two incredible sightings of humpback whales in the area. Read on for the story.
Humpback whale sighting off West Cork – a must-see video
Just recently, incredible footage showed a humpback whale sighting off West Cork, one of the closest encounters imaginable, leaving locals captivated.
The astonishing footage from a local boat shows the whale breaching and returning to the water on multiple occasions.
Backed by the beautiful landscape of West Cork, the video just encapsulates how lucky we are to see sights like this right on our doorstep, and it’s not the first time they have been spotted.
Just yesterday, drone footage was captured by an amateur photographer, which features another great perspective of our local humpback whales, ever present in Irish waters.
Both videos give two different but powerful perspectives of what beauty surrounds us in Ireland.
Local humpback whale comes to the surface – another fantastic encounter
There was a second sighting of a humpback whale even more recently off the coast of West Cork.
The footage was captured by Dan Lettice, an amateur wildlife photographer with a strong passion for whale watching.
Mr Lettice has described the sighting as something that never gets old. He said, “We are blessed with incredible marine biodiversity off our coasts.
The big thing for me is showing that to people and promoting the protection of this biodiversity and habitats”.
Not only did Mr Lettice capture the sighting on his drone from the air, but he also filmed it bubble net feeding.
He stated, “I’ve seen bubble net feeding and humpbacks pooping before, but the overhead drone footage gives a different perspective,”.
An incredible moment – a well-known humpback whale is back again
The humpback whale that was spotted off West Cork is well known to the community. In fact, this particular whale, known as #HBIRL82 in the catalogue of The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, was first spotted off Valentia Island, County Kerry, in 2015.
In addition, the record contains a list of recognisable individual humpbacks, like this one, who live in Irish coastal waters.
While filming the humpback on his drone, Mr Lettice noticed a brown plume in the water. This indicates that the whale had defecated. Believe it or not, this is good for both us and the sea.
The sighting, which took place at Tragumna Bay near Gokane Point, proved that the ocean is getting the nourishment it needs. Whale poo is rich in iron, phosphorus and nitrogen, which help nourish the phytoplankton in our oceans.
In turn, the phytoplankton can combat climate change by absorbing C02. This means that this humpback whale was doing its part to protect the environment and us, called “global ecosystem engineers” by scientists.
Dan Lettuce, who is on social media as Into the Wild Ireland, has been watching whales for 20 years now and has said, “It blows my mind now as much as it did when I started doing it. It never gets old!”.
Here’s to many more wildlife sightings in Irish waters.
