Orca Stranded on Sandwood Bay

A stranded Orca has been found at Sandwood Bay on the John Muir Trust’s Sandwood Estate in Sutherland. The eight and a half metre long adult is thought to be a male and has been stranded for too long to establish a cause of death.

According to Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust(2) this is an unusual find. ‘Since 1992 there have been only 11 killer whale stranding incidents in Scotland, so this is quite an unusual occurrence. The last reported killer whale stranding in Scotland was a juvenile in the Firth of Forth in May 2007,’ commented Susannah Calderan, the Biodiversity Officer for the Trust.

In the past month large groups of killer whales have been seen around the northern coasts of Scotland and the Isle of North Rona, some of which have been seen taking seals. It is possible that the Cape Wrath animal was a member of one of these groups, although currents in the area are quite strong, so it could equally have been carried in from offshore. The other possibility is that it could be one of a small population thought to be resident in Scotland’s Hebridean waters.

Orcas are one of the ocean's top predators. Different pods tend to specialise in what they eat, but diets can range from fish, octopus and squid, to birds, seals, sharks and large whales. Males are much larger than females, and it is easy to tell adults apart, males having a tall straight dorsal fin measuring up to 6 foot high, whilst females have a more dolphin-shaped fin. Despite the name ‘killer whale’ orcas are in fact the largest member of the dolphin family.

Orcas have been hunted in the past for commercial whaling, and are still captured for public display, although there are no captive dolphins in the UK. At the top of the food chain, they have no natural predators, and are at risk only from man's activities. The natural life span of a wild orca is up to 60 years for males and 90 years for females.