Filmed over the course of 20 years in Ireland’s wild Atlantic, Dolphins: Wonders of the Ocean begins this Sunday.
From underwater cameraman Ken O’Sullivan, Dolphins: Wonders of the Ocean takes viewers on a 20-year journey with dolphins, beginning with an encounter with one lone, lost dolphin in Co. Clare and ultimately to freediving and filming enormous pods off Ireland’s coast in the open North Atlantic Ocean.
Cinematic natural history scenes of these charismatic animals hunting in huge pods in the waters around Ireland show insights and behaviours filmed on camera for the first time.
20 years ago, Ken O’Sullivan returned to the West Coast of Ireland to follow his dream of becoming an underwater cameraman. When a solitary bottle-nosed dolphin called Dusty showed up, this beautiful animal became Ken’s subject.
“Where Dingle had Fungi, now Clare had Dusty” he says,
“she would ultimately be a part of my journey to explore and film Ireland’s under-sea world and to learn about the amazing dolphin species in Irish waters. I discovered our beautiful undersea world in Ireland and when I found this place, it became a life-changing moment. I felt compelled to document this place, and after a couple of years, I found the perfect subject. There’s so much life here in these seas and if you are patient, and work hard, you can find magic.”
As the arc of the series develops, Ken and his crew witness how human activity is now threatening these animals in Irish Atlantic waters. Sound pollution and overfishing are among a number of conservation threats faced by dolphins.
The series features beautiful natural history scenes shot in Ireland’s waters as Ken begins to realise that much of our perception of these charismatic animals may be over-romanticised.
Of greater concern is the welfare of the species. Ken discovers multiple existential challenges facing dolphins in the northeast Atlantic, not least an increase in the number of dead dolphins each year in Irish waters.
Dolpins: Wonders of the Ocean begins this Sunday, 31 August on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 6.30pm.
For further information: Jennifer O’Brien | RTÉ Communications
