Rare moment killer whales spotted playing around fishing boat off Northumberland coast

Incredible footage has captured the rare moment a pod of killer whales were spotted 'playing around' a fishing boat off the Northumberland coast.

Fisherman Glen Annison was stunned to find around eight or ten orcas around three miles (5km) off Beadnell on Wednesday morning (April15).

They were first spotted by his son 14-year-old Tyler before being filmed by his other son Joshua, 17, as they playfully splashed around their boat for around 20 minutes.

Orcas, the largest member of the dolphin family, are seldom seen off the coast of Britain and Glen said they considered themselves "very lucky" to see them.

Dad-of-three Glen, 41, from Seahouses, Northumberland, said: "We were out doing our lobster pots at around 7.30am when my son Tyler shouted 'look whales'. There were about eight or ten of them just playing and the calf came really close to the boat - it was an amazing encounter.

"It's not something you see every day so we took a bit of time out of our day to watch them. The boys were taking videos while I just tried to keep the boat steady so not to annoy them as otherwise they would have been gone.

"The adults were a couple of hundred yards away but the calf - which we nicknamed Little Alan - came very close. It was incredible. We spent around 15 to 20 minutes watching them before deciding we better do some work and we left them there still playing.

"Its the second year in a row we've had them around here. Last year we thought they were jet skis at first as they moved so fast. We couldn't keep up with them but this time they were playing around the boat. It is so rare to see them so for them to be spotted here two years in a row is really special."