‘Amazing sight’ as pod of dolphins swim down Cork river at sunset

Crowds gathered to watch as a pod of dolphins were spotted swimming down the River Lee in Cork, with one local videographer calling it “an amazing sight to see”.

Social media footage shows people lining the river along George’s Quay and Father Matthew Quay on Saturday as the dolphins swam by from daylight hours into dusk.

Dolphins and orcas have previously been spotted swimming along the River Lee, but sightings are rare.

When Cork-based videographer Ryan Lynch, 27, heard dolphins had been spotted in the river, he grabbed his drone to film them swimming slowly as the sun set.

He captured aerial footage showing the small pod of dolphins’ backs slowly emerging and disappearing in the water, which he uploaded to his Instagram account @ryanlynch_rl.

Mr Lynch said he was “relaxing at home” when his girlfriend showed him a video from a local Instagram account of “dolphins swimming in up the River Lee quite close to the city hall”.

“I’ve lived in Cork for a number of years but I’ve never seen dolphins come in this far to the city, although I’ve heard it isn’t the first time,” he told the PA news agency.

“I didn’t put much thought into it and grabbed my drone and headed straight in.

“I went to a location first where I thought they would be and put the drone up but couldn’t see them.”

Mr Lynch then spotted “a big crowd of people” by the river so drove to the location and ran to get his drone up.

“The first shot I took was my favourite, which was the dolphin jumping out of the water with the city lit up with a beautiful sunset in the background,” he said.

“It was an amazing sight to see.”