Orca frenzy as three pods are encountered off east coast of Caithness
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The east coast of Caithness has been the scene of an orca-watching frenzy with at least three separate pods being encountered in the space of a few days.
Caithness wildlife photographer Karen Munro was among those eagerly following the killer whales' progress and some of her stunning pictures are featured here.
Karen, who lives at Scrabster, explained that the first pod was caught on video on Saturday morning by Arran Henderson from a boat near the Beatrice offshore wind farm. This was followed by another sighting by Andy Knight at Latheronwheel on Sunday morning.
Within an hour of Andy’s sighting, Gemma Sutherland reported a pod close into the shore at Proudfoot in Wick Bay.
The pod seen off the Trinkie followed the coast up to Noss Head. From there they cut across Sinclair's Bay, to the disappointment of those waiting at Keiss in the hope of a close-up view, then came nearer to the shore at Auckengill.
"This allowed me some decent views through my telescope," Karen said. "Straight away I was able to recognise one of the animals due to her distinct notch. Number 19, also known as Mousa, is one of the animals we see annually around this time on the Caithness coast and migrates to Iceland every winter.
"After Auckengill I went to Duncansby Head to join the ever-growing crowd waiting for them, and I didn’t have to wait long before spotting my first fin – which was a good bit closer than I was expecting.
"The pod I had seen from Auckengill have a tendency to stay a bit off the shore when they pass north at Duncansby Head. However, within 10 minutes a group of five orcas surfaced directly below the cliffs behind the lighthouse, much to the delight of the crowd.
"As I was taking photos I saw straight away that there was a very young one in amongst them.
"The pod then turned at the lighthouse and made their way west along the coast about a mile offshore.
"On looking at my photos I could see that this was not the same pod I had seen earlier at Auckengill – this was a pod we know as the 169s. The pods are named after the matriarch's individual ID number.
"This pod is known to associate with the other pod, so it was no surprise to see them so close together.
"Two weeks earlier my friends and I had been sent a video from the Moray Firth of a new calf. From the video we had a rough idea of the pod involved, but not enough detail to confirm who the mum was – so I was very happy to get these photos at Duncansby Head which confirmed the mum of the new calf to be animal number 170.
"Thankfully Chloe Bunch managed to get some photos of the other pod passing Duncansby Head, proving they were also there but had not come so close in. While the other pod went west, the 19s proceeded to Scapa Flow where they were photographed a couple of hours later.
"As if that wasn’t enough, on Monday afternoon I got a message from Colin Cormack to say that eight orcas were close in at Reiss beach, making towards Keiss. This was a different pod again, the ones we know as the 27s, and the pod who gave amazing views at the Trinkie in May 2019.
"They hugged the coast from Reiss northwards, much to the joy of many onlookers, and made a number of seal kills on the way. Sam Mackay caught one of the kills at Freswick and his footage is just incredible.
"Yet again there was a crowd waiting at Duncansby and for the second day running they were given wonderful views. Not only was there a kill but one of the males breached a number of times. My friends and I nickname this pod the showstoppers, as they always put on a show."
Updates and more photos can be found on the Caithness and Moray Firth sightings Facebook group.
For anyone interested in the identification of these orcas, the new Scottish Killer Whale Photo Identification Catalogue is now available to download free of charge. Karen is one of the contributors.
