Common Dolphin only 9th recorded in Essex

News from County Mammal Recorder John Dobson and the most unusual mammal record for 2022 has to be the carcass of a common dolphin found on the tideline at Gunners Park, Shoebury on 10 December 2022. This is only the ninth Essex record, although this number was swelled by three animals that stranded at Mucking Bay on the Thames in 2020 and were successfully returned to sea. Common dolphins are generally found off the west coast of the UK but some do enter the North Sea occasionally. Although not quite as small as our most common cetacean, the Harbour Porpoise, this is not a very big species of dolphin, measuring less than 2.5m long with a distinctive creamy hourglass marking on its flank.