Why are more orcas being seen in one coastal area?

Marine experts say orca sightings are "definitely up" in one part of the UK's coast but it is not clear why.

On Wednesday, fishermen spotted a pod of up to 10 off the Northumberland coast, one of several visits orcas - or killer whales - have made to the area in recent years.

The North East Cetacean Project's coordinator, Martin Kitching, said there had been sporadic sightings from north of the Tees, past the Wear and Tyne estuaries to the Scottish border since 2000, but in 2025 there were "five verified sightings in Northumberland alone".

"There was also one in 2024, one on a couple of consecutive days in 2023 and one in 2021, after years and years when there were hardly any at all," he said.

Data from the project shows just a handful of confirmed orca sightings between 2000 and 2016.

These include two in Tynemouth in 2004 and 2005, one off Hartlepool in 2006 and one close to Sunderland in 2016.

But Kitching said most seafarers in the North East had never seen any.

"We went out and spoke to boatmen in all the ports along the North East and nobody could actually remember seeing them in the past," he said.

"Now all of a sudden, sightings in Northumberland at least are definitely up".

Orcas feed on fish, but will also target seals and sea birds, of which there are an abundance around the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast.

"The question I've been asking myself is not why they're coming now, but why they weren't here before," Kitching said.

There are just two resident orcas in UK waters, two older males named John Coe and Aquarius, who were spotted off the coast of Cornwall on 1 April.

They are the remaining members of the West Coast Community pod of 10 orcas, which was frequently spotted around the UK and Ireland in the 1990s.

Other orcas visit from places such as Iceland, but are more commonly seen in the Shetlands and the west coast of Scotland.

Ellie Adams, from the charity Orca, said the recent surge in sightings in Northumberland could be because mothers and grandmothers were "passing on the best places to feed".

"Orcas have matriarchal societies and if they've been somewhere and successfully hunted, they could be choosing to take the pod back to the same place again," she said.

Kitching thinks now the orcas have begun to visit, they will keep coming back.

"They're incredibly intelligent problem solvers," he said.

"Once they've found a particular food supply, there's no reason whatsoever that they won't keep coming back to it."

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