Londoners amazed after dolphins spotted splashing about in a river

Lucky park-goers in Richmond were in for a treat when they spotted some unexpected visitors making a splash in the river.

Onlookers got a surprise whilst on their weekend walks when they were joined by a group of dolphins bobbing along the river at Richmond Lock and Footbridge, west London.

One walker said they called the fire brigade as they were scared the mammals were trapped in the body of water.

‘I walked over the footbridge, went to the other side,’ James Moon told the MailOnline.

‘There was a couple of fire engines the far side, two fire engines under the bridge and another one coming and sirens and police and I thought this is a bit strange.

‘One of the firemen was saying they’d got called out because they thought [the dolphins] had been trapped or they were in distress.

‘They clearly weren’t because you could see them surfacing and messing about, the two of them close together.’

The whole scene unfurled at around 10.30am on Saturday morning.

‘They seemed to be fine going up and down occasionally. People were shouting.

‘There’d be a little dorsal fin come up and then you’d see the body come up,’ he continued.

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‘There were loads of kids there and parents and everyone was watching and taking videos – it was great. Superb. 

‘It was a nice sunny day and everyone was coming down and having a look.

‘They had a white stripe on them so I think they were white striped Atlantic dolphins. The last one that came up in 2017 got as far as Richmond.’

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