AN AMATEUR photographer has captured incredible images of a dolphin toying with its food and throwing a salmon around into the air.
Damien Jackson, 59, managed to take the spectacular pictures from a beach in Greenore, County Louth, in Ireland last month.
One amazing image shows the dolphin’s dorsal fin gliding through the surface of the flat of the otherwise flat calm water.
Leaving a trail of highly detailed water droplets, a huge salmon is shown being flung into the air having been thrown around by the hungry dolphin.
Another incredible shot shows the dolphin and salmon briefly lining up as they come nose to nose.
The camera has captured incredible detail and shows the salmon’s striking blue scales glimmering in the light.
While another spectacular image shows the salmon seemingly hovering above the dolphin whilst it splashes through the still sea water, creating ripples all around.
Damien, from Tramore, County Waterford, shared the images to Facebook last week, writing: “I was at Carlingford Lough early last Friday morning with the purpose of taking some photos of the boats in the early calm misty morning light.
“Suddenly a change of lens was called for when I was treated to a display of a dolphin chasing what I think is a salmon around the bay.
“As mentioned the light was overcast and misty but here are a few photos of nature’s magic moments!”
The stunning shots have now collected more than 4,800 likes and over 1,500 comments from amazed viewers.
Lee-Anne Metcalfe said: “Fantastically captured. Thank you for sharing these amazing moments.”
April Marie Collins said: “Absolutely beautiful, you sure take awesome pictures.”
Anne Galbraith-Jellie said: “These images are really amazing Damien. Thanks for sharing.”
Cindy Sabiston said: “Nothing like playing with your food. All kidding aside though, absolutely amazing photos.”
Speaking today, Damien said: “While I was photographing boats I noticed the dolphin coming up and breaching the water.
“It just broke out into these huge splashes and it stood out because the sea was so flat.
“I knew this was going to be an opportunity of a lifetime if I could capture it.
“But I had a wide lens on so it was a matter of putting on a longer lens with trembling hands.
“It (the dolphin) just kind of threw the misfortunate salmon around the place.
“I could see its fin and it was holding it in its mouth like a dog with a stick.
“At one stage it must have hit it a belter with its tail because the salmon was two or three metres in the air.
“I didn’t see it crunching the salmon but he went back to breaching peacefully and there were no more big splashes breaching with the salmon.”
