British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), a frontline response charity for marine mammals in distress, has attended two incidents of common dolphins finding themselves in Cornwall’s small intertidal creeks.
The first was late on Tuesday, when a single dolphin was seen close to Truro. Sadly it was found to have died when the charity’s medics were able to get to it come first light.
The second incident then took place on Friday, when three more were spotted at Mylor Yacht Harbour – before venturing further up the creek to Mylor Bridge.
Recalling both sightings, the charity said: “Common dolphins typically do not come into these habitats often, and therefore can be prone to getting stranded as a result of fast moving tides and mud flats, as well as struggling to navigate their way out.
“Very late on Tuesday a lone dolphin was seen in a remote spot close to Truro. It was already getting dark, so medics went out first thing Wednesday to search the area, sadly finding the animal deceased.
“We turned the incident over to our colleagues at Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network to recover for a post mortem examination with Cornwall Marine Pathology Team.
The dolphins found their way into small creeks at Truro and Mylor (Image: BDMLR)
“On Friday three more were monitored by our team for a good portion of the day at Mylor Yacht Harbour. This location isn’t too much of a worry, but when they later ventured up the creek to Mylor Bridge it became more of a concern as this is a known stranding hotspot.
“Once again, due to the lateness of the day, it wasn’t safe to attempt any intervention to get them back out, so were watched from the riverbank into the evening to track their movements and hope they got back out before they stranded on the outgoing tide.
“Fortunately on this occasion they did, at around 7pm, and the team stood down.”
The team added that further searches this morning (Saturday) revealed no dolphins in the area.
“We’d like to thank everyone involved with their assistance at these incidents,” said the charity.
“There are good numbers of dolphins around the coast at the moment so naturally a higher chance they may get into difficulty, or that there could be sick, injured or elderly amongst them that may strand too.”
For advice on what to do if you see a dolphin, porpoise or whale in distress visit: https://bdmlr.org.uk/what-to-do-if