Bangor graduate has dolphins named after her following her death earlier this year

A Bangor graduate has had two dolphins named after her following her death earlier this year.

The Sea Watch Foundation named a bottle-nosed dolphin and her newborn, Tallie and Summer, in memory of Tallie Brazier, 22, who died in a car crash in April.

Tallie worked as an intern at Sea Watch, a national marine charity, last summer, where she spotted and logged the dolphin that now shares her first name in New Quay, Ceredigion.

Tallie’s mother, Adele Nightingale told BBC News: “I just wish she was here to see it.

“She’d be absolutely amazed, [and] would be so touched by that.”

Talking about Tallie’s time at Sea Watch, Adele said: “We would very often get video calls when she was on the boat and there’d be a pod of dolphins behind her and you’d hear squeals of delight and joy at what they’d seen.”

Adele added that Tallie’s passion first started after she watched Finding Nemo, when she was around two or three years old.

Then from junior school, Adele explained her daughter had decided she wanted to work with dolphins and began scuba diving at eight. She eventually became a PADI-qualified rescue diver, which enabled her to dive all around the world.

Last year, Tallie graduated from Bangor University with a degree in marine biology with vertebrate zoology and was set to return for her Master’s in marine predator ecology later this month.

Sadly, Tallie Brazier died after a car crash in Elton, Cheshire, on the 15th April this year whilst out with her boyfriend.

Talking about the crash, Adele said: “It was a very ordinary Monday.

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“All the times she’s gone diving 22 metres and I’ve been worried about her, but I did not worry that day.”

Adele explained that she was working from home when she received an automated text with a pin location from her daughter’s phone saying it had been involved in a collision.

She said: “I tried to phone her straight away, her sister was here and we were both trying to phone her.

“I phoned her dad and he said he’d had [the text] as well.”

Tallie’s family then drove to the location, where they could see ambulances and a helicopter overhead.

When they later arrived at the hospital, Adele had the news broken to her that Tallie had not survived the crash. She said: “I don’t remember a great deal. My younger daughter says that all she can remember is that I was screaming.

“I remember saying to the nurse ‘it should be me, I would take her place’. It felt very surreal.”

She added that the family was taken to see Tallie to say goodbye.

“I can still see that, I can still see Tallie on the resus table. Then the police talked to us and brought us home,” Adele explained.

In a tribute to their daughter, the family told BBC News:  “Everyone that met her loved her… She was bright, kind, funny and beautiful with a whole life of adventures in front of her.

“We will love her and miss her forever.”

In her memory, Tallie’s family asked for donations at her funeral, raising almost £3,000.

Alongside this, Tallie’s old team TNS FC in Oswestry set up The Tallie Brazier Cup raising a further £6,000.

This money was then donated to Sea Watch who suggested naming a dolphin after Tallie and setting up the Tallie Brazier Scholarship, which will provide funding for future interns starting next year.

Featured images via Facebook

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