A HUMPBACK whale never seen in Scottish waters before has been spotted off the west coast.
On July 9, leading wildlife tour operator Hebrides Cruises set sail with passengers on-board the vessel named Elizabeth G.
During the voyage two humpback whales were spotted in the water.
"A guest onboard spotted a big blow in the distance as we were making our way towards Gunna Sound,” said Hannah Lightley, a wildlife guide for Hebrides Cruises.
“There were lots of squeals and excitement onboard as I then confirmed this as a humpback whale.
“We then observed the animal surfacing several hundred metres in front of Elizabeth G with multiple tail flukes.
READ MORE: Asylum seekers to get free bus travel in Scotland under pilot scheme
“Whilst we were immersed in the sighting, skipper Alasdair then spotted another humpback whale around a kilometre away in the opposite direction, so we then headed towards this animal where it was tail slapping multiple times.
“We were 13 miles northwest of Gunna Sound in around 140m of water.
“Once closer, we switched the engines to neutral and that’s when we had the most incredible encounter of the humpback associating with the boat and eventually surfacing just metres from the bow and then swimming under the boat.”
Photographs of the sighting were then sent to Lyndsay McNeill at the Scottish Humpback ID project.
McNeill manages the catalogue of humpback whale sightings in Scotland, which aims to identify each individual whale spotted in Scotland.
The first humpback encountered was confirmed as Barett who is listed as number 100 on the catalogue having previously been photographed in Scottish waters.
However, the second whale was confirmed as being new to Scotland and was subsequently named Sinclair is honour of the boat’s skipper Alasdair Sinclair.
“Although rare, humpback whales are now being sighted with increasing regularity in Scottish waters,” said McNeill.
“We’ve seen around 10 new individuals a year as well as a few familiar tails back in the same areas.
“Many of our matches from the Hebrides have been from Iceland.”
READ MORE: Watch spectacular video of Orca duo off the coast of Ardnamurchan
McNeill is able to identify the whales through studying photographs of their tails, which are all unique.
“Every tail fluke is as unique as a human fingerprint and is used to identify the different whales,” she said.
“Humpbacks are known to migrate through Scottish waters between their feeding and breeding grounds.
“Much of what we know about these magnificent creatures has come from enthusiastic members of the public or ‘citizen scientists’ reporting what they’ve spotted and using a technique called Photo-ID to identify whales, building a better understanding of their movements.”
Lightley added that the sighting had been a first for many of the passengers and crew on-board.
“This has been an epic day,” she said.
“Lots of tears, squeals, and big smiles aboard Elizabeth G with quite a few guests seeing their first humpback, as well as a first for our chef and senior deckhand.”
The rare sightings come just a few weeks before Hebrides Cruises inaugural In Search of Giants expedition cruise, which takes passengers to former whaling areas off the north and west coast of Scotland including St Kilda.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here