IS Wally the wandering walrus on his way back to Wales?

That's the question being posed following the news that the nomadic creature has swum off from his most recent stamping ground of the Isles of Scilly to pop up in Ireland.

Wally was spotted swimming off the southerly shores of the Emerald Isle yesterday, Monday August 2, near Ballinacourty Lighthouse at Clonea, County Waterford.

It was further west at Valentia Island last March that he was first sighted before swimming across the Irish Sea to Pembrokeshire.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group confirmed that the walrus sighted yesterday was definitely Wally because of similarities in the creature's markings.

After his Pembrokeshire stay, Wally visited France, Spain and Cornwall before he began his Isles of Scilly sojourn, where he went on a boat-wrecking spree which led to locals giving him his own purpose-built pontoon.

His time in Tenby saw him taking up residence on the resort's RNLI lifeboat slipway, attracting huge attention and launching a range of walrus-themed seaside souvenirs.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group added: "So this situation may present local wildlife enthusiasts with a great opportunity to observe a rare Arctic vagrant from a safe distance.

"As always we’d ask local mariners to give this walrus a wide berth and not to disturb it.

"There is no way of knowing how long it will remain in the area, if at all, but it has now been tracked over a five month period and through at least four countries and whilst we’d all be happier if he wasn’t here and headed back towards its home within the Arctic Circle, it is here now in high summer in waters that must be very warm for a marine mammal with such a thick blubber layer; so let’s not make life any more difficult or stressful for it during its stay."