Pair of orca startle fisherman as they feed at Castlepoint | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Killer whales seen prowling the shore at Castlepoint have been unmasked as known adult males most likely hunting their favourite prey.
A pair of killer whales _ also known as orca _ were spotted by several people at Castlepoint over a 15-minute period at about 1.30pm on Friday.
Masterton man Sean Needham said he was fishing for kahawai with his friends at Castlepoint when the pair of protected marine mammals swam past him.
He laid aside his rod and line long enough to snap a photograph of the animals before they swam out of sight of the bay. ''One of them had a bent dorsal fin _ it's the first time any of us have seen an orca in our lives and to see them at Castlepoint _ that was unusual.''
Yvonne Craig-Simpson, also at the beach resort at about the same time, took a picture from shore of one of the orca, which has been identified.
''We could see this huge black fin from the bach. My sister said there's been sightings of them before, but not so close in. It was the first time I've ever seen one _ we knew it was pretty special.''
Marine biologist Dr Sarah Dwyer, of the Orca Research Trust, said there are about 250 orca in New Zealand waters, some of which are named. The male in Ms Craig-Simpson's picture is called Nobby.
''He has a notch on the front of his dorsal fin and that's how he got his name.''
Trust members sighted Nobby in the Hauraki Gulf on July 10, Ms Dwyer said, in a pod of more than 10 mammals seen travelling from Gulf Harbour down the East Coast Bays and into the inner harbour.
''Unfortunately the other photograph is too distant and too blurry to identify the other adult male, but there is the possibility he's one of the same orca that were in the group with Nobby in the Gulf ,'' she said.
Ms Dwyer said individual animals are identified from their dorsal fins, which often sport unique nicks and marks, and each individual has a singular eye patch and saddle patch ''just like our fingerprints''.
She said it is ''perfectly normal behaviour'' for the pair to be so close to shore.
''New Zealand orca feed on elasmobranchs (sharks and stingrays), so they are regularly sighted in less than 10m of water when they are hunting.''
Sightings were made of a pod of up to 10 of the mammals in the waters of Island, Lyall and Princess bays in the capital last month.
New Zealand orca circle the country in small pods during the course of the year, Ms Dwyer said, and are commonly seen in the waters off Wellington during cooler weather.
Earlier sightings have been made of killer whales at Castlepoint beach but there have been few reports, if any, of them coming as close to shore as the pair on Friday.
Dr Ingrid Visser, who established the Orca Research Trust as the only researcher specialising in orca in Kiwi waters, rescued a stranded killer whale, Putita, from Northland in May.
If you see orca in New Zealand coast, report your sighting to the Orca Research Trust on 0800 SEE ORCA.