THIS is the moment a dolphin was spotted swimming in the River Dee in Flintshire. 

Gareth Bilton made the amazing spot at 5pm Monday whilst walking his dog down Dock Road in Connah's Quay. 

He said he heard a faint splash in the water. Taking a look, he saw something quickly disappearing into the water.

“I stopped to watch, unsure of what it was. I felt so in awe when I saw it re-emerge and realised it was a dolphin or a porpoise," he said.

“The river was high and the creature was moving swiftly in the direction of the estuary. I was having a difficult and challenging day and I felt like it was a sign; it felt like such a blessing.”

Vicki Roskams, director of the Enbarr Foundation which is restoring the John Summers Clock Tower building, also spotted it.

The Clock Tower sits next to the River Dee - and it's from there that she spotted the creatures. 

“I heard a shriek, that’s what alerted me,” she said.

“Seven people were sat on a bench on the river walkway. A child was screaming and when I looked, I could see why - in the river were the dolphins, a mother and baby."

“Where I was, I had a grandstand view. The dolphins were jumping through the bore wave, almost as if they were washing themselves. At other times they seemed to be surfing the wave.

She added: “It looked as if they were just being playful. When the bore comes through, the wave can reach high up the banks, so it is quite deep. You can see the Dee bore in action here."

Vicki thinks shes saw the same pair last year.

“That time the baby was much smaller,” she said. “There’s a lot of fish in the river at the moment and the mum must be bringing her youngster here to feed.”

Vicki said Natural Resources Wales had staff on site monitoring the situation - and it's believed the dolphins safely made it back out to sea. 

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In 2013, a dolphin made national headlines after it swam all the way up the River Dee to the outskirts of Chester. 

The common dolphin was lifted aboard a Flint RNLI lifeboat on a stretcher after it was reported to be in difficulty near Saltney Ferry. 

It was later transported out to sea while being observed by members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue on board who were closely monitoring the dolphin.