On the morning of Thursday 11 July, Alan Harcus was out walking with his family, round the coast of Sanday on one of Orkney’s northern islands, when he noticed unusual shapes in the sand ahead. “We assumed they were seals at first”, he told the Herald. “It’s quite common to get large groups on the beach.
But as we got closer we could see what looked like fins sticking up. We got closer and closer, and you could hear them, so that’s when we realised what it was, and the sheer scale of it.” As the family moved closer, they realised what they had found.
Long-finned pilot whales – dozens of them – lay scattered in clumps, stranded along the length of the beach. A huge line of whales – some calves as young as two or three weeks old, some full-grown adults reaching up to seven metres in length. Pictured: A total of 77 whales were found on the shore (Image: The British Divers Marine Life Rescue) The Harcus family had to keep walking to find phone signal, heading further round the coast to find a spot that worked, so they could call in to report what they had found – 77 whales in total.
Some living, but the majority still, already dead. The Harcus family had discovered the biggest whale stranding in the UK in almost a century. It was unclear what had driven the whales into such shallow water and onto the land, with the group all in good condition, and with evidence they had recently been feeding.
Part of the oceanic dolphin family – second only to Orcas in siz.