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WATCH: Sam's drone footage shows 'nature at its brutal best' as killer whales hunt seals off east coast


By Alan Hendry

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The sight of killer whales hunting seals off the east coast has been described as "nature at its brutal best" by the Sutherland man who captured the dramatic scene in a spectacular drone video.

Sam Mackay, who is from Golspie and lives in Wick, said he was left speechless after his encounter with a pod of at least seven orcas at Freswick Bay in Caithness. His footage shows the pod pursuing seals close to the shore and attacking a number of them.

It was Sam's first sighting of orcas and he admitted: "It was the kind of stuff you would only expect to see on the TV."

The pod is one of at least three that were observed off the east coast of Caithness in the space of a few days. Wildlife photographer Karen Munro, a contributor to the Scottish Killer Whale Photo Identification Catalogue, has identified it as a group known as the 27s.

Sam (32) has about six years' experience of operating drones and used manual controls to track the fast-moving whales. He shared the resultant four minutes and 35 seconds of footage on social media after a quick edit.

He had ventured out on Monday with his friend Martin Banks, who had brought his drone too, after reports that orcas were heading up the coast.

“Karen Munro had put an alert up on Facebook that there was a pod at Reiss beach heading north, so we tried to think ahead," Sam explained. "We went to Keiss first and they were just passing. It was quite busy, there was a lot of folk there.

“We thought we would get ahead of them and get in place. We waited at Skirza harbour [in Freswick Bay, south of John O'Groats] for about 10 minutes at the most before they came up.

“It was brilliant because we actually thought they would go past Freswick Bay. We thought they'll come straight across and they should be not far from the harbour – so that was the right choice to make for us.

“Anything could have happened – they could have just turned back. The way they were travelling, they hadn't been stopping, so to stop where we were was just incredible.

“To be honest I was absolutely speechless. At the time when we were filming, it was hard to put into words what was actually going on.

“And that was my first time seeing the killers at all – I'd never seen them before.

“I had been hoping one day I would catch them, but to get what we got on Monday it did make me speechless. They were so close in as well.

Sam Mackay in action for Golspie Sutherland in the North Caledonian League. Picture: Callum Mackay
Sam Mackay in action for Golspie Sutherland in the North Caledonian League. Picture: Callum Mackay

“The initial report that came through said there were eight. I definitely counted seven when we were there. There were two or three young ones and two really big bulls.

“This is from our back doorstep and it's not something you would ever expect to see.

“To see them was a bonus, but then when they went to work and they were getting the seals, it was just out of this world.

“I don't know how they establish a name for a pod but Karen has identified them as the 27s."

Sam reckons the footage shows two or three kills taking place.

“You are in awe watching it. It is just nature at its brutal best,” he said.

“I'm delighted for everyone who got to see them. They are definitely about, so hopefully they will come back again.”

Sam, a mechanical technician at the Vulcan site next to Dounreay, is well known in north football as a former player with Brora Rangers and Wick Academy in the Highland League and now manager of North Caledonian League side Golspie Sutherland.

The new Scottish Killer Whale Photo Identification Catalogue is available to download free of charge.

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