Killer whales seen hunting seals by Farne Islands

A family of killer whales has been seen hunting seals near the Farne Islands.

The pod of orcas were spotted on Sunday by passengers onboard a tourist boat travelling around the islands off the Northumberland coast.

William Shiel, who runs the boat company, said he saw the orcas flip a seal out of the water and believes they were teaching their calves how to hunt.

"They were by the islands and they were feeding on the grey seals, which I guess is not a pretty sight," he said.

"But the seals on the islands are at record numbers now and those are their predators.

"I guess it's one way of controlling their numbers."

Mr Shiel, 52, said he has worked on the boats since he was 16 but had only seen the orcas twice before and each sighting was in 2025.

This time there were between six and eight, including about four calves.

Mr Shiel said a Tyneside family had joined them on the boat and told him they had recently booked a trip to Iceland to try and view orcas.

"They've looked for killer whales all their lives, so they were over the moon," he said.

The Farne Islands are home to one of the biggest colonies of grey seals on the east coast of England.

Thousands of grey seals live in the area and about 3,000 pups are born each year.

Mr Shiel said the strength of the seal colony might lead to more encounters with orcas in the future.

"I've got a feeling we might start to see this a little bit more often because they've probably got a taste for it and there's a good food source for them there," he said

"I've got a sneaky feeling we'll start see them a little bit more regularly."

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.