INCREDIBLE footage of a Sei Whale - rarely seen in Scotland - has been captured showing the mammal having a grand old time in the Firth of Forth, South Queensferry.
The Sei Whale, which has only been spotted nine times in Scotland in the last 50 years, was seen by Andy Mather and his two daughters Sidonie and Agathe Mather over the weekend.
The lucky onlookers were quick to take incredible videos of the mammal as it swam nearby, with the whale at one point coming within 20 metres of where they were standing.
Andy said: "We heard it blow and looked around to see it partially breach on its side, exposing a pale flipper.
"It then proceeded to do circuits of the bay coming within 20 metres of the rocks on the shoreline that we were standing upon."
He added: "I had left my camera at home and my phone had run out of battery but fortunately my daughters were armed and ready for action and took some amazing videos!"
They later posted the footage on social media, attracting much attention and envy from mammal enthusiasts keen to catch a glimpse of the animal themselves.
Co-founder of facebook group Forth Marine Mammals and a local marine mammal enthusiast, Ronnie Mackie was lucky enough to see the Sei Whale for himself the night before.
Mackie told The Scotsman: “The thing that is quite noticeable about the Sei Whale is that it has got a very upright dorsal fin in comparison to most of the whales we see, and that’s what I spotted first and I knew it was rare.
"I was looking and there was an article I saw from a few years back which said that there had only been nine previous sightings of this type of whale in Scotland in the last 50-years, so it’s quite a rare one.”
He added: “We’ve already had a lot of excitement this year in the group because we had the Humpback Whale here for a few weeks and now we’ve got this Sei Whale, it's incredible.
"I just find it so interesting. The thing about the Sei Whale is that it shouldn’t really be here. It’s more a deeper water whale, it normally stays out to the west of Ireland in the Outer Hebrides, it migrates north to feed in the summertime, so it’s very unusual for it to be here.”
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Sei Whale is one of the fastest whales, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.
Sei Whales live in all oceans and adjoining seas, explains the WWF, except in tropical and polar regions.
The whales apparently prefer to spend the summer feeding in cooler waters, before migrating to warmer waters where they breed and give birth to calves.
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