Video shows orca learning to hunt birds off Orkney

An amateur wildlife photographer says capturing a pod of orcas teaching a youngster how to hunt was “amazing”.

Graham Campbell captured video and pictures of the pod as they hunt, breach (when the whale launches their body out of the water) and spy hop (when they pop their heads up out of the water to inspect their surroundings) throughout the afternoon.

His footage, captured off Hoxa Head in South Ronaldsay, Orkney, caught the pod teach a calf how to catch seabirds.

Mr Campbell told BBC Scotland: “It was an amazing afternoon watching this pod of orcas. I regularly go out looking for sightings with some friends during my spare time.”

He moved location following a tip off and then realised the pod was directly below him in the water.

He added: “It was one of our regular pods known as the 64s pod, I spent the next three hours tracking them around the coast as they hunted, breaching various times and spy hopping in the sunshine.

“They were hunting the seabirds and I watched them take guillemots, cormorants and shags.”

Mr Campbell said where he lived in Orkney meant he’d seen orcas a lot, but that it was always amazing and each sighting was different.

“Normally, they hunt seals but this is the first time I’ve managed to spend a few hours watching them hunt seabirds and managed to record it,” he added.