{"id":572007,"date":"2026-07-28T11:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/572007\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:54:08","slug":"killer-whale-sightings-off-west-coast-of-ireland-as-famous-orcas-drop-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/572007\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer Whale sightings off West coast of Ireland as famous Orcas drop by"},"content":{"rendered":"

They are from a documented pod and may travel south<\/p>\n

10:34, 28 Jul 2026Updated 10:35, 28 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Orcas in Donegal Bay(Image: Rossnowlagh Surf School, Tara Kellet \/ @DonegalBayTrust.\u00a0)<\/p>\n

It’s a long way from West Cork, but whale watchers all along the west coast of Ireland are very excited – and on alert – after two famous Killer Whales were spotted off the coast of Donegal.<\/p>\n

The confirmed sightings, in Donegal Bay, were reported by the popular ORCA IRELAND Facebook page<\/a>, which documents sightings of whales in Irish waters. And one of the instructors from the Rossnowlagh Surf School<\/a> snapped the whales as they cruised around the bay.<\/p>\n

Sharing the pics and news with their followers, the Surf School said the Orcas are both known to marine biologists and seasoned whale watchers, they are from a famous Pod of Orcas known as the ‘West Coast Community’ that is normally seen off the coast of Scotland.<\/p>\n

They said: “Donegal Bay is incredible – John Coe and Aquarius Spotted Back in Donegal Bay – John Coe is believed to be over 60 years old, while Aquarius is slightly younger.<\/p>\n

The two are legendary male orcas and the last remaining members of the critically endangered West Coast Community of Scotland, making them some of the oldest wild male killer whales ever recorded!<\/p>\n

The Surf school also pointed out that swimmers and people using the water in the area have no need to fear the whales as “Contrary to their names – Orcas are among the world’s most intelligent animals, and outside of captivity, they have never caused a human death.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of the Orcas in Donegal Bay(Image: Amy Sarah, Donegal Bay Trust)<\/p>\n

The Orca Ireland group said the confirmed sightings were very significant, as they are the last known survivors of the West Coast Community: “a critically important group of mammal-eating killer whales that has travelled the waters of Ireland and Scotland for decades.<\/p>\n

Every confirmed sighting of these remarkable animals helps us better understand their movements and contributes to their long-term conservation.”<\/p>\n

The Orca Island Facebook page<\/a> will be sharing more details of these incredible creatures – and tracking their travels on the West Coast of Ireland over the coming days.<\/p>\n

The sight of the whales in Irish Waters may bring back memories for Cork people of the three killer whales that swam into Cork harbour and right up into the city, in the north channell of the River Lee, in June, 2021. They spend several hours in the water around Horgan’s Quay and hundreds of Leesiders turned out to see them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are from a documented pod and may travel south 10:34, 28 Jul 2026Updated 10:35, 28 Jul 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[76751,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-572007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-cork-loves","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}