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Meet the 2023 Interns: Kaylee McKenna

I'm excited to introduce Kaylee McKenna as WDC's summer Marine Mammal Conservation Intern. Kaylee has...
Lasting legacies

Lasting Legacies: Orca Action Month 2023

Each June we celebrate Orca Month and the unique community of Southern Resident orcas, and this...
North Atlantic right whale - Peter Flood

Whale AID 2023: A Night of Music and Hope for North Atlantic Right Whales

The inaugural Whale AID concert to support Whale and Dolphin Conservation's (WDC's) work to protect...
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Meet the 2023 Interns: Thomas Zoutis

I'm happy to introduce WDC's first Marine Mammal Conservation Intern of the year, Thomas Zoutis!...
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Double Your Impact for Marine Animal Rescue & Response

On a chilly day this past December, the WDC North America team celebrated the first...
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WDC’s Education Wishlist = Cleared!

To the WDC Community, I want to thank you so much for your support of...
Hysazu Photography

Looking forward for Southern Resident orcas in 2023

Hysazu Photography 2022 was a big year for Southern Resident orcas - 2022 brought the...
Credit: Seacoast Science Center

The Unlikely Adventure of Shoebert, a Young Grey Seal Who Visited an Industrial Park Pond

Credit: Seacoast Science Center In mid-September, our stranding partners in northern Massachusetts were inundated with...

The Life of Riley, A WDC Shorewatch dog

Find out about WDC Shorewatch through the eyes of Riley the springer spaniel and his owner Steve Truluck.

A dog that writes blogs? Pull the other one! OK so actually I’ve trained my human to type what he’s told; he’ll do anything for one of my cuddles. I’ve been asked to write a series of blogs to tell you all about my whale and dolphin adventures in Scotland.

My human first met me when I was very little and luckily for me he lives right next to the sea. I’ve always loved the sea. I can go swimming and I find lots of sticks and balls on the beach. Occasionally, if I’m really lucky, there are dead seagulls which I love rolling on but my human isn’t very happy when I do that. What does make him happy is seeing dolphins. He gets so happy he starts shouting and squealing. It’s so embarrassing. Luckily for him most humans get like that when they see dolphins. He met a group of local people who are also passionate about whales and dolphins and now we all go watching and they do the squealing together while I pretend I’m not with them. It’s called Shorewatch and it’s run by wildlife charity, WDC – Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Shorewatch relies on volunteers like me and my human to look out for whales and dolphins from specific sites and then record their sightings. The information can then be used to check for long-term trends when whales and dolphins are present at the site. With this information the kind humans at WDC help protect these amazing creatures of the sea. The best bit is that anyone can do it and it only takes 10 minutes which means loads of time for the humans to play with me. There are Shorewatch sites all around Scotland where volunteers watch from and contribute to helping protect the marine environment. I’m proud to be a Shorewatcher.

So, please follow my blogs and I’ll tell you all about the cool marine mammals you can see, like orcas, humpbacks, minkes and dolphins. Plus I’ll tell you about the nice humans I meet shorewatching and explain to you how Shorewatch works.

I hope you’ll like reading about my adventures and me enjoying the life of Riley.