A 40 foot whale, likely to be a Minke, was seen from an aircraft flying low between Sark and Alderney.
The whale was spotted on Tuesday (23 August) and the photo was passed to both Guernsey Coastguard and the island's Biological Records Centre.
Liz Sweet is the manager, and she's pretty sure it's a Minke:
"From the size of the whale reported, it could be either a Minke or a Fin whale. It's more likely to be a Minke because they're about 7 to 10 metres long. We have four times as many sightings of Minke whales. Fin whales are very rare visitors."
Sea temperatures are currently near their warmest for the year, at around 18 or 19 degrees C, and Liz says this is what is attracting the whale here:
"When the sea gets warm enough we get a lovely plankton bloom. As the small fish appear in huge numbers, then we get the bigger predators, and we've certainly got the tuna out there at the moment."
They're Baleine whales, meaning they don't have teeth. Instead they have a Baleine membrane, which is made of a substance similar to human finger nails, and it filters food. Minke whales eat a variety of fish, including sand eels, whiting and plankton.
Liz says the whale mustn't be disturbed, but anyone sighting it should contact the Biological Records Centre by phone or online, saying where it was spotted, how many were seen and what time of day:
"We would love it if you could get a photo or a video. It doesn't have to be professional. It could literally be you with a camera phone going, 'oh my goodness, look at the whale.' Because if we've got a picture or a video, it really helps with ID."
A sighting of a Minke Whale was recorded in Guernsey waters in August 2013.
Minke Whale sightingFootage of Minke Whale surfacing and shallow diving, recently spotted off west coast of Guernsey
Posted by Guernsey Sea Fisheries on Friday, August 23, 2013
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