Photo courtesy of Alan Vernon
Every summer in the UK, there will undoubtedly be a story in the news regarding a great white shark being spotted off the Cornish coast. These stories are reported in the peak of the summer holidays, scaring the tourists that were brave enough to venture into our chilly seas, to stay firmly on land. Hopefully, the general public will react positively to the news of a mother and calf killer whale duo, being spotted 100 metres off the Cornish coast.
It is wildly known that killer whales are present in Scotland’s waters and during the summer, they venture closer to shore around Shetland, Orkney and Caithness. For the rest of the year, it is hypothesized that pods of killer whales follow the migration of mackerel around Scotland to gain a reliable food source, in addition to larger prey such as seals.
The killer whales spotted off the Cornish coast, could belong to the same pods in Scotland, but why have they traveled south? It could be due to the extremely high population of seals found in both Devon and Cornwall, providing a very attractive food source for hungry killer whales. In fact, there has been an instance of killer whales preying upon a basking shark, a species that frequents the Devon and Cornish waters every year. This shows killer whales are no strangers to migrating further south from Scotland to obtain vital food.
Hopefully, the public will react positively to this news without shouting the dolphin equivalent of; “JAWS!” and causing panic within the community that use the sea for financial and recreational purposes. Although they are apex predators, a wild killer whale has never killed a human and if we don’t bother them, they are very unlikely to cause harm to us.
This sighting highlights the diversity of the UK’s fauna and must be very exciting news for the killer whale researchers based in Scotland. It may stimulate new research, due to possibly highlighting an unknown migration route for killer whales.
So don’t be afraid of this news, grab your binoculars and head down south for a chance to see one of natures beautiful, top predators cruising around.
Haley Dolton
