The area has become a prime spot for spotting marine life in recent years
A dad was treated to an amazing sight this morning as he took his baby son for a drive. Chris Barr, 38, from Aigburth, often takes his two-year-old son Theo out for short drives in his car to help the little boy nod off to sleep.
This morning, Chris drove to the Britannia Inn in Otterspool, overlooking the Mersey. Speaking to the ECHO, Chris said: “I drove into the car park and I saw something bob out of the water.
“I saw the fin and I actually thought it was a shark at first. Then I saw it was clearly a dolphin.”
Chris said he was “a bit excited and shocked” when he realised what was in the water. “It was far more interesting than the usual naptime in the car. It was nice to see a dolphin rather than just watch the world go by.
“I didn’t even know there were dolphins in the Mersey to be honest. I saw a seal a few years back, but never a dolphin before.”
Chris caught the magical moment on camera and shared the footage with the ECHO.
Dolphins and porpoises have been spotted in the Mersey before. Thanks to decades of clean up work, marine life is returning to the river. We previously reported that five types of shark can now be found in the river.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2023, John Sanders from the Mersey Rivers Trust said: “We do have dolphins, sharks and other fish starting to return into the Mersey estuary, but sewage is a big issue.
“We’ve still got these Victorian sewer systems which when heavy rain arrives, overflow into our rivers.
Ben Coba with a starry smooth-hound shark caught in Seacombe. Credit: Wirral Sea Angling Academy(Image: Wirral Sea Angling Academy)
Otterspool appears to be a prime location for dolphin spotting. In April 2024, a pod of what appeared to be dolphins were spotted by walkers on Otterspool Promenade, not too far from where Chris and his son were parked today.
In 2020, at the height of the covid lockdown, several people reported seeing a pod of around 10 dolphins, also in Otterspool. However, according to an expert, they were probably harbour porpoises, rather than dolphins.
Speaking to the ECHO at the time, Stefano Mariani, professor of marine biodiversity at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “The Mersey harbour is a primarily a cargo and commercial harbour so normally there will be a lot of traffic.
“The porpoises are very efficient hunters and they use sound to hunt. As the Mersey water is very murky they need to use sound to fish and the sound of boats and ships interferes with their efficiency.
“So it is not a surprise that if there is the loss of that sound they may go there to hunt.”