{"id":1045622,"date":"2026-06-23T20:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1045622\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:26:19","slug":"killer-whales-sighted-in-firth-of-forth-as-pods-move-south-to-feed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1045622\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer whales sighted in Firth of Forth as pods move south to feed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orcas can be seen porpoising in the shadow of the famous Bass Rock before diving again.<\/p>\n

Sightings of orcas in the Forth<\/a> used to be extremely rare, with more pods based in the west or north of Scotland, but have become more regular since an initial sighting just over a year ago.<\/p>\n

It is thought the orcas have moved south to feed.<\/p>\n

\"AnAn Orca photographed in the Firth of Forth \u00a9 Jamie McDermaid<\/p>\n

Emma Marriot, Conservation Officer, Scottish Seabird Centre, explained that a combination of factors is making the Forth an increasingly attractive hunting ground. <\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe\u2019re more likely to see orcas on the North and West coasts of Scotland, where there are local or transient pods.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, it\u2019s not unheard of to see orcas in and around the Firth of Forth. Just over a year ago, we were also excited to see orcas from the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick; and there have been regular sightings between Dunbar and Northumberland since spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cIt\u2019s likely that the orcas are making these journeys to feed. The Isle of May is home to one of Britain\u2019s largest grey seal colonies during the winter, and at this time of year harbour seals are having their pups.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome pods of orcas specialise in hunting marine mammals, so a relative abundance of species like seals can be a real draw.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther pods primarily hunt fish such as mackerel, which migrate seasonally, travelling from cooler northern waters into the warmer waters of the central North Sea to spawn.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom June, mackerel may be seen more commonly in the Firth of Forth as they migrate to or from these spawning grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all adds up to make the Firth of Forth and its surrounding waters a tempting prospect for hungry orcas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orcas are large toothed whales and formidable apex predators, recognisable for their distinctive white underbelly, black top, and white eye patches.<\/p>\n

The orca is noted for being a cosmopolitan species and inhabits a range of marine environments, from the Arctic and Antarctic to tropical seas.<\/p>\n

The Scottish Seabird Centre has been tracking orcas since the first regular sighting more than a year ago. Although regularly sighted, the whales have only been captured on camera or video a handful of times.<\/p>\n

This article is provided by the news agency Deadline News Limited and published here with permission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orcas can be seen porpoising in the shadow of the famous Bass Rock before diving again. Sightings of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1045623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,287620,4884,56357,7653,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-1045622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edinburgh","tag-britain","tag-edinburgh","tag-forth-firth-of-forth","tag-great-britain","tag-killer-whales","tag-orcas","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116801307202468760","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1045623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}