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As much as we would like to, we cannot cover the entire coast on our own so our public sightings are very helpful for both logistical and scientific reasons.
Public sightings data, also known as citizen science, is invaluable in helping us gather a clearer picture of what is happening around our coasts and allowing us to plan how best to focus our efforts in order to protect and conserve the delicate marine habitats and species that Wales is so proud to call home. Citizen science is a fast growing area of conservation science and is proven to provide many benefits when combined with robust surveying and monitoring.
Pictures are always incredibly useful to us in order to identify species and individuals, behaviours, interactions etc but if you wish for them to not be added to our research database or used on our social media pages please state so in additional information when uploading. When used on social media platforms or in research, credit will always be given to the photographer when possible but we treat your data in the strictest confidence so will not publish any other personal data. Please keep an eye on our social media if you’d like to see your photos shared as we publish photography posts weekly!
You can let us know about both live and healthy sightings as well as deceased individuals that you may find washed up on beaches. All sightings are important to our data collection but if your sighting is of an animal in distress or urgent danger please report immediately to BDMLR on 01825 765 546. If you witness non urgent deliberate disturbance or concerns that don’t require rescue but you believe need reporting please get in touch. No one will ever be turned away if they have concerns and both NWSRO & BDMLR are always happy to help.
Finally, we ask for contact info incase we see something urgently wrong with the animals in photographs and need more information to perform a rescue or monitoring. You can leave this blank if you prefer to never be contacted.