Sperm whale pod seen off west coast for first time

By MIKE MERRITT
Published on 21/02/2013 10:12

A GROUP of sperm whales has been photographed off the west coast of Scotland. It is believed it is the first time a pod of five sperm whales has been seen in UK waters, as they are normally solitary creatures.

The whales, which can grow to more than 60ft long, were seen feeding close to the shore at Applecross in Wester Ross on Monday. They were photographed by Nick Davies, who runs Hebridean Whale Cruises at Gairloch.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve only seen single ones before and never this close to the shore,” said Mr Davies. “It was a stunning sight. The experts believe it is the largest single pod of sperm whales ever seen in Britain.

“The whales were feeding and they were not ill. They were diving for between 15 and 30 minutes.

“Where they were, it is 1,000ft deep. There was one bull about 60ft long and others about 40ft long. They were enormous – I could see their blows eight miles away. They hung around all afternoon and then went out to sea. I’ll never forget such a magical sight.”