Marine wildlife: Stranded dolphins rescued in Merseyside

Image source, Hoylake RNLI

Image caption, Lifeboat crews came to the rescue

A baby dolphin and its mother have been rescued by a team of marine experts and lifeboat crew members.

The dolphins became stranded on a sandbank at Oglet Shore near Liverpool Airport.

The location is nearly ten miles from the sea on the River Mersey.

The team made sure they were OK and helped them until they could swim away safely.

Image source, BDMLR/ Ian Willow

Image caption, A hovercraft was needed to get the teams to the dolphins because of the tide

The dolphins were first spotted by a birdwatcher on Sunday who got in touch with the rescue teams.

Lifeboat crews with a hovercraft arrived and helped bring marine rescue teams to the sandy bank which had been cut off by the tide.

The baby dolphin (usually called a calf) and mother dolphin were injured and had become separated.

Image source, Hugh R Hastings/Getty

Image caption, Dolphins are one of the cleverest animals on earth

But when the animal experts carefully moved the calf closer to its mum they began communicating with each other.

Once the marine experts had checked the dolphins over, they looked after them until the tide came in when the dolphins swam away

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