Ocean's top predator swims past

By Arthur Strain
BBC News

The killer whales were spotted from a boat Enlarge Image

They are the ocean's top predator and roam the seas at will including, it seems, the waters around Northern Ireland.

Three killer whales, orcinus orca, were spotted off the Antrim coast at the end of last month.

David MacAuley spotted three of the animals while on a boat between Ballycastle and the Mull of Kintyre.

He was mid-way across when he saw the animals - a pod which apparently heads north in May and south in September.

"They appeared about 100 metres from us the first time but by the time I got my camera out they were about 300 metres away," he said.

With their large dorsal fins the animals are an incredible sight, and while not common, sightings in Irish waters are not unknown.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group aims to promote a better understanding of these marine mammals classified as cetaceans.

Sightings co-ordinator, Pádraig Whooley, said that there has been no increase in the number of sightings of killer whales in Irish waters, but there has been a year-on-year increase in the numbers of whale and dolphin sightings.

"It is more likely that this reflects a large increase in observer effort and greater awareness," he said.

"Sightings of killer whales are typically few and far between each year, which is what you'd expect of an apex predator, anywhere."

He said that so far this year there had been two other confirmed sightings of Orca whales in the waters around Ireland, both within the last two months.

Three were spotted off Mizen Head, Cork, in April and six others were spotted off High Island, Galway, in May.

In 2007 there were 1,281 whale or dolphin sightings off the coasts of Antrim, Down and Londonderry, according to the IWDG website.

In 2006 there were 838 and in 2002, 176.