You may have seen the devastating news about the catastrophic spill of an estimated 24–25 tonnes of plastic pellets (known as nurdles) into the Port of Tyne just over a week ago now (19 July 2026). It's believed to be the largest plastic pellet pollution incident in Northern European history.

We’re reminded of just how at risk our environment is in our industrialised estuaries despite the many protections and great efforts afforded them in recent times. We’re also reminded every day that Nature is everywhere, in our seas and rivers as well as skies and forests, and that we are in the privileged position of being able to look after this world that we as humans take so much from.

Having close up wildlife encounters can really bring life into perspective and also bring unexpected synergies. Orcas have been seen this summer off the Farnes and how lucky those who’ve seen them are, unless you are a seal!

The pod they call the ‘27’s’, made famous by their appearance with Attenborough on his Wild Isles programme, were identified as the probable orcas on holiday. They used to be a bigger group but split into two pods and one has only four in it, two males and two females. They were tracked by observers from their usual haunt in Shetland and Orkney all the way to Northumberland. 

I’m pleased to say I too have just encountered them, but not yet on home turf, but actually up there, off Unst, the furthest north island in the North Sea and UK. 

My wife Jacky and I got very acquainted with them a few weeks after their southern jaunt, in a small bay near where we were staying. We watched them for nine hours chasing fish and the odd seal, four different fins haunting the nearby islets, and at one point the matriarch came within 12m of us, so close you could hear her breath! It was a magical encounter that will always stay with us. We later saw different orcas with young calves too. One day I hope to see them off the Farnes, or Coquet Island. Their amazing presence is mesmerising.

These are the moments, wherever they occur, that keep me going when things get tough or life too busy. It was great to get away even from our local scene, great as it is, to find some headspace from our frenetic fundraising to finally acquire Rothbury and our many amazing Wildlife Trust projects. But it was extra meaningful to have this encounter that linked through such an iconic marine species back to our beloved Northumberland.

It also showed the power of nature to move quickly over great distances seemingly effortlessly, this year’s influx of painted lady butterflies, from Morocco, those cuckoos we still get coming to and from from the Congo, the swifts, swallows and martins, African birds, and the arctic and other terns that travel thousands of miles over the year ending up here to breed. Wildlife has no borders; animals are truly world citizens. 

I also feel that it shows how every ecosystem on the planet is inter connected and how the health of each part affects the other. Orcas visiting the Farnes are a sign of hope that the North Sea, one of the most overexploited and industrialised in the world, where fish stocks have crashed many times, is in recovery. There’s a way to go and much change needed, the impacts of wind farms, shipping, pollution and industrial fishing, all need mitigation, but there are positive signs. 

We are seeing more cetaceans generally it seems, more bottle nosed dolphins and other species, more minke whales and now orca off the Farnes.  Blue finned tuna has also been seen and we see more humpback whales following what appear to be rejuvenated herring migrations, right down our seaboard every summer. But we also know the once universally common mackerel is now so threatened Waitrose won’t stock it, our puffins and roseate terns still find enough 'hard to find' sand eels, so it’s a mixed picture underneath those turbulent waters.

When you look at seabirds it’s more complex, the aftermath of avian flu means many species are still in recovery and numbers, the fall off of sand eels and other key prey species have also dented the populations of puffins and the like. But kittiwakes seem to be doing well locally. Climate and overfishing are certainly affecting these negatively across the whole north but doesn’t seem to be too impactful locally yet. We know that some species such as porpoise and kittiwakes are especially sensitive to disturbance in the constructing of large offshore wind farms. So, it is a very dynamic situation, the needs of our human growing population butting up against those of the species that naturally live alongside us.

The overall picture feels like the marine wildlife are trying their best to edge back in where they can or to survive in the colonies they have occupied for thousands of years, in a quite conflicted environment. What can be done to safeguard them and encourage Nature more within the Northumbrian seas?

There are many players trying to do conservation at sea and on the coast and many protected areas designated, a great partnership coordinated by the County Council oversees planning policy, fishing and many other aspects and the Council and Northumberland Coast National Landscape, Marine Management organisation, Natural England and RSPB and National Trust, are all working singly and in partnership towards improvements, looking after everything from the precarious beach nesting little terns at Long Nanny, to the grey seals of the Farnes and elsewhere, the birds of these and Coquet Island,  and at least monitoring the cetacean and other pelagic species off our coast. Many inshore fishers are adopting new methods. A lot is going on which may be having an effect.

There’s always more we can do. Northumberland and Durham Wildlife Trusts, working with others, has run a Stronger Shores project for two years with coastal communities to develop local conservation solutions to marine and coastal problems. 

The project explored how nature can be used to limit the impacts of coastal erosion and flooding across the northeast. It has also been engaging communities in the wonders of the region’s marine spaces alongside, trialing exciting marine science, exploring the environmental factors affecting seagrass restoration, all with the aim of encouraging coastal communities to have a better connection with their marine spaces.

In Northumberland the focus has been on sea grass, which apart from Lindisfarne is extremely patchy and almost gone, and the species it held with it.

A major highlight has been the Amble-based ‘North Side’project, which has involved engaging the community with the work Dr. Martina Bristow is undertaking, monitoring a rare patch of seagrass in the area.

The project team engaged extensively with artists across the region to explore the former significance of seagrass to the area, creating stunning pieces that were displayed on banners throughout Amble Town Centre and exhibited in the Drywater Centre to inspire other local groups. 

Most rewarding has been seeing at first hand the strong bonds communities have with their marine spaces, and hopefully, as this sort of marine work continues, these connections will grow. We are planning a much bigger marine conservation initiative right now to build on this. 

All of this will in time help us to better balance the needs of people and wildlife in the Northumbrian marine and beyond, for as our orca encounter showed, it’s not just sorting out one part of the sea that will lead to a thriving sea world, it’s all joined up. As Attenborough’s hard hitting Ocean film also showed us, the sea can very quickly recover its biodiversity and abundance, we just need to give it a chance. 

When that happens, we will not be astonished to see orca off the Farnes or pods of 50 Minke whale off our coast, or thriving seabird colonies and better fish catches to power the local economy, it will be just normal, as in the past. These traveler orcas are an exciting sign of what is possible.