Orca Sighting South of Pol Bank – 9th July 2025

"On Wednesday 9th July, while on charter with the JNCC conducting a Storm Petrel flight height survey, we found ourselves south of the Pol Bank reef, southwest of the Bishop Rock Lighthouse. At approximately 20:50, we began our journey back to St Mary’s, choosing to pass by Bishop Rock on our return.

As we headed in that direction, Isaac Ogden—who was crewing with me—spotted some fins over a mile away. Initially, we thought they might be the Bottlenose Dolphins we had seen earlier in the day. However, as we all turned to look, it quickly became clear that the fins were far too large.

To our amazement, we realised we were observing Orca—a truly incredible and rare encounter in Scillonian waters.

We gradually approached, maintaining a safe and respectful distance, and spent around 30 minutes observing the pod. The sighting was surreal, and the excitement among everyone onboard was palpable. Eventually, we continued on our way back to St Mary’s, watching as the Orca headed off westward into the open sea."

This mesmerising account was written by Boatman Joe Pender on one of his frequent Scilly Pelagics trips further out in the waters around the Isles of Scilly. 

A local cetacean monitor was able to ID the individuals from photos that Wednesday night, and later had the ID confirmed by Iberian cetacean expert Guilherme Estrella, and Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlantica (GTOA) catalogue developer Ruth Esteban. 

The two Orca sighted are classed as Iberian Orca, but are distinctly different from other pods seen off Spain and Portugal. These individuals are larger, have never been observed interacting with other pods, never interact with boats and have never been seen with calves. The group – designated at the ‘vega’ pod – started out as a pod of three Orcas, but are now down to a pair of females. 

There is some debate about their diet during their trip around Scilly. Typically Iberian Orca will stick to tuna as their sole dietary source, however there have been reports of predated seals around the islands. It seems that these Orca are more generalist feeders and are going after other food sources in Scillonian waters.

Ruth Esteban’s GTOA catalogue gives these two individuals the identifiers C-001 and C-002, and have been nicknamed 'Valkyia' and 'Freya'. They were first added to the catalogue as adults in 1997, making them at least 30 years old.

The vega pod has a reputation for being mysterious and unpredictable. Until last week's sighting here in Scilly, they had only been recorded in the Strait of Gibraltar and south of Portugal. Little is known about their movements outside of these areas, and they have a habit of showing up somewhere unexpected for a short time before disappearing again. 

The wider ecotype of Iberian Orca are critically endangered. It is assumed this pod aren't related to them but we've no idea where they came from - they could be the last of their eco type, but we can’t say with any certainty. 

Prior to this sighting, the last recorded Orca around Cornwall were in 2021, where the individuals known as 'John Coe' and 'Aquarius' were seen off the Minnack Theatre in Porthcurno. However, the vega pod are the first Orca from the GTOA catalogue sighted in Cornwall. 

Thank you to our local cetacean monitor for providing the data and information on the recent sighting.