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Killer whales spotted during Orca Watch 2021 event


By Mike Merritt

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Orcas photographed during the 2021 event.
Orcas photographed during the 2021 event.

Killer whale pods have been spotted in Caithness, Shetland and Orkney as part of the ongoing annual Orca Week.

For the last nine years, groups of volunteers have travelled to north-east Scotland for the chance to glimpse the stunning cetacean.

Organised by Sea Watch Foundation, the annual Orca Watch event usually takes place over 10 days across Caithness, Orkney and Shetland.

After the cancellation of last year’s watch due to Covid-19, this year it is being held online. It ends on Sunday.

The week-long programme of virtual events, talks, and daily sighting round-ups is being supported by NatureScot.

After an announcement in 2012 that green energy underwater turbines were to be potentially installed in the Pentland Firth, the decision was made to launch the seasonal event to better understand how cetaceans use the area, and the impact that these installations might have on them.

The north-east coast of Scotland is a haven for marine mammal and bird life, with orcas, minke and humpback whales, Risso’s, white-beaked, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and harbour porpoise all possible to spot from the shore.

Now in its tenth year, the current Orca Watch has already also spotted porpoise, minke whale, Risso's dolphins, bottlenose dolphins and other cetaceans.

However, rather than welcoming numbers of people to participate directly in land and boat-surveying, this year instead sees a small, dedicated group of locally based volunteers collecting data on the ground in Caithness, Shetland and Orkney, operating strictly within Covid guidelines.

Scotland is home to a number of resident and seasonal killer whale pods, including the two most famous members of the west coast community – John Coe and Aquarius – who recently carried out an 1100-mile round trip staycation to Cornwall.

Sea Watch Foundation works to improve the conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises in British and Irish waters. With a national database of over 250,000 sightings covering the period 1960-present, the foundation has one of the largest and longest-running sightings programmes in the world, contributing to UK marine policy, conservation and research.


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