Wildlife photographer Joshua Pedley got more than he bargained for this week when he saw a bottlenose dolphin launch a deadly attack on a porpoise.

“We witnessed ‘porpicide’ for the first time,” said Joshua, who runs the SeaMor Dolphin Watching trips that operate from New Quay.

“We think of bottlenose dolphins as being cute and cuddly animals, but they are also very boisterous and at times aggressive.”

“This sort of behaviour isn’t for food. It’s for fun,” continued Joshua, who is also known as The Wildlife Man on Social Media.

“And as unfortunate as it is for the porpoise, it is a behaviour I had always, rather morbidly, hoped to encounter, as the concept is fascinating.

“There were approximately eight bottlenose dolphins in the bay as we made our way to the headland, and as we got to the headland, a harbour porpoise passed us heading into the bay.

“As we turned to see how close the dolphins were, a wall of white water erupted from the bay and the dolphins came charging over, straight for the Porpoise.”

The deadly encounter lasted just under ten minutes, with the bottlenose dolphins repeatedly chasing, slamming and throwing the porpoise out the water.

“The porpoise on multiple occasions tried to use our boat as shelter and hide underneath us. This gave us unparalleled viewing of the action.

“But the porpoise stood no chance. The dolphins eventually got bored and we watched on in disbelief as the porpoise took its last breaths alongside our boat.

“This was naturally very sad for the porpoise," added Joshua.

"But it was an incredible wildlife moment to witness and possibly with it some of the best documentation of this behaviour to ever be recorded.”