#MarineWildlife - This Sunday's All-Ireland Whale Watch Day has made the list of The Irish Times' 40 things to do in Heritage Week 2013.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) will be hosting free, guided and land-based whale watching events at 16 headlands around the Irish coast from 2pm to 5pm this Sunday 18 August.

The purpose of the day is to raise awareness of the 24 cetacean species recorded in Irish waters by giving the general public the chance to see our whales and dolphins in their natural environment.

And as the group tells RTÉ News, the recent arrival of minke whales in great numbers spells "a good omen" for this Sunday's island-wide watch.

The IWDG has the full list of whale watch spots for this weekend HERE.

Whale Watch Ireland 2013 just one example of the wide range of activities taking place during Heritage Week from 17-25 August.

Other events on the water during the week include Victorian seaside celebrations in Kilkee, Co Clare on 21 August; a river walk along the Lee in Cork city centre on 24 August; lighthouse tours at Galley Head, Loop Head and Wicklow Head on 25 August; and the Galway Hooker festival, Cruinniú na mBád, this weekend 17-18 August.

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Loop Head in Clare was certainly the place to be for the annual Whale Watch Ireland on Sunday 19 August, with dolphins and two species of whale spotted despite the poor weather.

According to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), which organised the national event in conjunction with National Heritage Week to promote consevation of Ireland's marine wildlife, some 80 whale watchers and curious beginners spotted 11 bottlenose dolphins, a minke whale and a large baleen whale species - the only whales seen on the day among the 16 organised coastal watches.

Overall sightings were good, even with the unfavourable conditions experienced at half the viewing sites, and which saw the event at Baginbun Head on the Hook Peninsula in Co Wexford sadly cancelled.

In total, cetateans were seen at 10 of the 16 sites, which is up on the 54% viewing rate recorded at last year's national whale watch.

The biggest attended sites this year were Killiney Bay in Dublin, where three harbour porpoises were seen by 100 viewers; Galley Head in Cork, where six porpoises were witnessed in adverse weather that still brought out 120 eager cetation spotters.

Dolphins and porpoise together entertained the modest crowds at Howth head in north Dublin, St John's Point in Donegal and Bloody Bridge in Co Down, while the biggest count of bottlenose dolphins apart from Loop Head was the 10 recorded at Portmuck in Antrim.