A man has captured a series of pictures showing the moment a dolphin frolicked near a beach in West Wales – even appearing to ‘fly’ through the air at one point.
Joshua Pedley, a wildlife guide, was out leading a tour group in New Quay, Ceredigion – a hot spot for dolphin sightings – when they spotted the playful mammal.
The 29-year-old quickly snapped a few shots, including ones that show the bottlenose leaping out of the water, momentarily captured mid-air in a perfect arc-shape, before splashing back down.
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“It felt fantastic to get these photos,” Joshua, who works at SeaMôr Dolphin Watching Boat Trips, told What’s The Jam.
“Every wild dolphin encounter is special, so any photos to immortalise the memory is great.
“We see them every day, but they are wild animals and don’t perform on cue, so you never know if or when you might get them being particularly active and breaching out the water.
“You just have to get lucky and hope when the opportunity arises that you get the shots.”
The team has named the male dolphin Astarion, who he says has identifiable white splotches on his head.
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Joshua snapped the pictures at 10.35am on a boat trip last week (21 April).
Sharing the pictures on Facebook, he wrote: “An absolutely amazing encounter with this very breachy Bottlenose Dolphin.
“It was practically flying!
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“Really incredible when you get to see them breaching so high.”
One follower commented: “They really are flying.”
“How beautiful and majestic,” another fan agreed.
Someone else joked: “Someone else pleased to feel the sun on their back.”
Joshua added: “Cardigan Bay is home to the largest population of Bottlenose Dolphins in the UK and New Quay is the best place in Cardigan Bay to see them at.
“We adhere to a strict code of contact to ensure our trips are as respectful of the wildlife as possible.
“So, we stick to a set route and won’t go directly approaching the dolphins, and then we get a 10-minute window of observation with each encounter.”
Visit Wales describes New Quay as “dolphin central”, with the mammals easily spotted from the harbour wall – particularly during the summer.
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