Long before ORCA officially became a registered charity in 2001, a small group of passionate people were already laying the foundations for what the organisation would become. John was one of those early pioneers, and his memories capture the spirit, excitement and curiosity that shaped ORCA’s earliest days.
John first became involved in 1998, when he trained as a wildlife tour guide on the P&O ferry Pride of Bilbao, crossing the Bay of Biscay between Portsmouth and Bilbao. His “office” was Monkey Island, a small deck perched directly above the bridge and closed to passengers. From this privileged vantage point, he and fellow volunteers scanned the horizon for whales and dolphins, collecting the data that would eventually underpin ORCA’s conservation work.
He remembers the thrill of those early sightings vividly.
The excitement of seeing whales and dolphins caused guests to run across the deck which only comprised a thin metal layer. This sounded like a herd of stampeding elephants to the crew below on the bridge.
It was here that John learned Line Transect Distance Sampling, a technique that would become central to ORCA’s scientific approach.
It was here that John learned Line Transect Distance Sampling, a technique that would become central to ORCA’s scientific approach.
The early ORCA community was small but full of energy. John recalls the first AGM, held in a lecture room in west London, where volunteers sat in tiered seats listening intently to survey results and ambitious hopes for the future. “You felt part of something special,” he says. “I was hooked.”
In 2009, John and Dylan Walker (one of ORCA’s co-founders) teamed up to create a promotional video for ORCA. Their day filming in London included the Natural History Museum’s iconic blue whale.
Dylan shot a sequence with the Houses of Parliament in the background where Dylan managed to complete a narrative explaining the need for protection of cetaceans and the marine environment. The messages given about the plight of cetaceans, the survey work, the need for adequate protection and governments making decisions based on robust data are as valid now as they were then.
Looking back, John’s fondest memories are of the people: like‑minded volunteers sharing skills, swapping stories, improving survey techniques, and celebrating every sighting with the same “excitement and squealing” that defined those early days.
“Thank you ORCA,” he says. “And keep going.”
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