26 January 2026

Spotted: Beluga in the Netherlands

For the last week or so, a Beluga whale has been frequently spotted on the Dutch west coast. According to a local NGO, the animal is in good health and just seems to enjoy itself in the area.

For those of you who are interested in spotting a Beluga, but do not want to travel all the way to the deep artic, this might be a golden opportunity. I went myself yesterday and you could see the animal really well from the beach. Sometimes it comes so close that you can see its eyes and mouth without binoculars.  On the Dutch website waarneming.nl, you can find sightings of the animal, so you can easily find where it is last spotted. From there it is just looking for the large group of wildlife spotters on the beach.

 

 

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Flemming Versloot
Msc Biologist with a passion for mammals and freshwater fish. Currently working on invasive species in the Netherlands.
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5 Comments

  • 28 January 2026
    JanEbr

    What is the risk of it being an escapee or even this weird supposedly Russian … spy whale? 🙂 I just wonder how sure is the wild origin.

    • 28 January 2026
      Lennart Verheuvel

      Where could it have escaped from?

      • 28 January 2026
        JanEbr

        Well the Russian spy Beluga died over a year ago, so that one it clearly isn’t, which helps. I know that Belugas are sometimes kept on aquariums (I saw one in Eilat), but obviously it’s much more difficult for a whale to escape than for a bird, so it’s probably much less of a problem.

        • 28 January 2026
          Lennart Verheuvel

          Yeah, I read about the Russian spy Beluga. Fortunately there are no indications this one has been messer with. An escape from an aquarium that has been initiated by the animal seems practically impossible to me, unless the aquarium borders the ocean and they go out Free Willy style!

    • 30 January 2026
      Vsevolod Rudyi

      It is actually not that rare for a Beluga to show up in European waters. Off the top of my head I can remember at least two instances. First one is “Benny the Beluga” from the UK that showed up in Thames estuary and was hanging there between 2018 and 2019, and then supposedly departed. Then there was a stray beluga in Seine, France, which was euthanized due to poor health conditions. So I suppose it’s completely plausible to assume this one’s wild origins as well.

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