1. Bottlenose dolphins encountered around the Irish coast are considered part of a wide-ranging coastal community; however, knowledge on the significance of the north of Ireland for this species is limited by a lack of dedicated effort.2. Through social media, the opportunity now exists to gather large volumes of citizen science data in the form of high-quality images, potentially extending the spatial and temporal scope of photo-identification studies.3. The purpose of this study was to investigate social media as a data resource for photo-identification studies and to provide a preliminary assessment of bottlenose dolphins in the north of Ireland. Specifically, the study sought to examine the photo-identification data for spatial clustering.4. The study identified 54 well-marked individuals and provided evidence of potential year-round occurrence, with successful re-sightings throughout the study period (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016). There was a geographic concentration of re-sightings along