21-04-2025
Wrexham spotter witnesses bottlenose dolphin attack
A WITNESS of an 'extremely rare' bottlenose dolphin attack has spoken out about her rare experience at Ceredigion.
Spotting enthusiast Holly Williams from Wrexham was one of 12 passengers who witnessed a common dolphin juvenile being killed by four bottlenose dolphins while out on an organised trip from New Quay.
The incident which took place last week (April 17) left the group in shock, with experts describing it as a rare encounter.
Matthew Westfield from the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) explained that climate change encourages more of the species to be out, while a bottlenose may hunt them as a form of "play."
Holly, 38, said: "I'm a huge dolphin spotting enthusiast from Chirk, Wrexham, and visit New Quay, Cardigan Bay with my partner Adam jones (36) and our children.
"Between 6-7 times a year, we enjoy all the wildlife there, but particularly the bottlenose dolphins who are residents at New Quay, Cardigan Bay. We use the company Dolphin Spotting Boat trip, which we see as our extended family.
"While this time taking my extended family on a private boat trip on what began as a normal boat trip along the coast, we spotted one of New Quay's favourite bottlenose dolphins "Ghost" she was traveling with another dolphin at a good speed and in the distance we could see another four dolphins which looked like they were playing breeching out of the water but on closer inspection we seen them fling something out of the water.
"We first thought they had a salmon, then thought this was a porpoise (known as porcicide). The attack was all over in about five minutes, and the dolphins immediately just swam away. My son saw something in the water, unfortunately, a dead infant common dolphin.
"This is extremely rare to witness, although we are aware this does happen, and porcicide has been witnessed before, but it's never been witnessed with a common dolphin.
"Although this was upsetting to witness, there was nothing we or the crew on board could have done to save the calf. Nature can be so cruel sometimes, but as a family, we are aware that these beautiful animals aren't always as friendly as they seem.
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"We had the most amazing crew on board who contacted their boss, the Seawatch Foundation, and the CSIP, where the decision was made to retrieve the body so it can be studied.
"A huge credit must go to Sarah (wildlife guide) and the skipper on board who were both compassionate and respect to us as passengers and to the calf they recovered and nothing was done without our consent.
"This will be something that will stay with me forever and something we will probably never witness again in our lifetime.
