The largest was a group of 44 bottlenose dolphins spotted near Anglesey, while others included minke whale and harbour porpoise.

BBC: 158 dolphins and whales spotted in weekend Sea Watch

Helen Michie's Whale Skull Bone, artwork in the shape of the bones of a minke whale, is planned for a site above the beach at Dunnet Bay.

BBC: Sculptures selected for Dunnet Head and beach

It was originally thought that the mammal was a minke whale, but the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group now believes it is more likely to be a fin or a sei whale.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Tide dashes hopes of moving whale

In April 2002 a dead minke whale was washed up on the coast of Normandy, France, with nearly a kilogram of plastic bags in her stomach that she had mistaken for food.

CNN: Fighting the tide of plastic bags in a world awash with waste

Even if Norway can win the argument about minke whale harvesting being sustainable, it is still up against a well funded political lobby that seems to regard hunting any whale as unethical - unless done by American or Russian native peoples.

BBC: Norwegian whalers' determined position

The glossy black fin and back of a minke whale rose a hundred yards astern, two yellow-striped dolphins broke water and plunged down again, and then the flow of the turned tide could be seen as a chop on the water, small standing waves that indicated the Minch was reversing its direction.

WSJ: The Low-Tech, High-Stakes Way to Sail Scotland

Eva Maria Thorarinsdottir, marketing manager of Reykjavik's Elding Whale Watching, says minke whales were much friendlier before hunting resumed, but now they avoid ships.

WSJ: Supersize Me: Whale Meat Resurfaces on Iceland Menus

Attracted by plankton, krill and large shoals of herring, minke, fin, humpback, and the occasional killer whale habitually pass through the briny coastal waters between Donegal and Cork City.

BBC: Whale watching on Ireland��s newest coastal route