AMAZING video surfaces on social media which shows an unbelievably rare Sei Whale splashing around in the Firth of Forth.
Andy Mather had initially gone to South Queensferry, Edinburgh, for ice cream with his two daughters on Sunday when the trio spotted the rare sea creature.
Andy, who is from Armadale in West Lothian, initially heard the whale’s blow before he even saw the large mammal and turned around just in time to see it breach.
The 49-year-old had originally thought the whale was a humpback and never expected it to be a Sei, which has only been spotted nine times in Scotland’s waters in the last 50 years.
Despite being a keen amateur photographer, Andy had unfortunately left his camera at home.
However, luckily his daughters 15-year-old Sidonie and 12-year-old Agathe came to the rescue to video the spectacular experience on their phones.
One video shows the whale’s fin gliding along the surface of the Firth of Forth, just off the coast of Whitehouse Bay.
The whale can be seen surfacing as close as 20 meters from the shore, displaying the sheer size of the mammal to the fascinated family.
Despite being so large the dark grey animal could be seen travelling at high speeds whilst also making short sharp turns around the bay.
Andy later posted his daughters videos to Facebook on Wednesday writing: “Here’s some video footage, taken by my daughters, of the Sei Whale at Whitehouse Bay South Queensferry.
The video has since gone down a treat with fellow marine mammal lovers, with the post now having over 700 likes and 200 comments.
One user wrote: “What a treat! Made my day. Thank you.”
Another said: “Wow, how incredible! I am majorly jealous!”
One user commented: “Just amazing! Well done to your daughters for catching such great footage of this fine animal!”
One member replied: “Oh my goodness amazing footage ! How exciting!”
Speaking today Andy said: “We were just in the right place at the right time.
“It came right towards us, it was like a scene from Jaws.
“I had to look behind us to make sure we had an escape route!
“I couldn’t believe how fast it moved.
“We’re so lucky, I’m just delighted and happy we could help the marine community as well.
“We didn’t realise how rare it was at the time, it was absolutely astounding to see such a large animal so close.
“Most people get to see a blow or a fin, but we were so close we got to see everything.
“It was the quietest I’d heard them (daughters Sidonie and Agathe) in ages, they were completely mesmerised.”
This sighting was especially rare as Sei Whales are known to prefer deep offshore waters.
The Sei Whale is known to migrate annually from cool subpolar temperatures in summer to subtropical waters in winter, and are able to live a life of up to 70 years long.
