Sea-life reports sought by Cumbrian marine mammal rescuer

Common and bottlenose dolphins are two of the species seen off the English coast.

Volunteers could help protect dolphins and whales by reporting sightings, a conservation charity has said.

The Sea Watch Foundation says it uses the data to monitor cetacean numbers across the North East and Cumbria.

Regional coordinator Sarah Neill, who is also a marine biologist, said they were interested in reports of live sightings but also wash-ups.

Ms Neill said watching the sea for "an hour minimum" could provide "valuable data".

The 39-year-old joined the charity 12 months ago and also runs the Cumbria Whale and Dolphin Watch Facebook group.

Sarah Neill also rescues other animals, including seals.

"Whilst opportunistic sightings do get posted to my page, the conservation of any wild animal is largely dependent upon continuous monitoring, which is why sighting data is so important," she said.

"Monitoring populations also enables the identification of general distribution patterns, important areas for different species, behavioural responses to human activities and effects on reproduction."

Analysis of sighting reports, which can be submitted via an app, is used to raise awareness of any issues and prompt environmental change to help conserve and protect animals, she added.

The university lecturer, who also volunteers for British Divers Marine Life Rescue, says some people "don't realise" the amount of animals that frequent England's coasts.

The rare turtle species was found in 2014.

"People think there's nothing around our coastline but there is so much," she said.

"We've had common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins - we had one of those called Kevin Costner that rocked up last year in the River Eden, northern bottlenose whales [and] minke whales.

"We even had a Kemp's ridley sea turtle on Walney Island - which is the most endangered sea turtle on the planet."

A long-finned pilot whale was reported dead on a beach in Silloth on Tuesday.

Reports of live animals, dead animals and reports of no animals sighted are all useful, she said.