Sea giant hits the headlines
LOTS of excitement in Essex this week with the sighting of a humpback whale in the lower reaches of the Thames.
Estimated at 33- feet long – imagine the length of a bus – this magnificent creature had managed to lose its way and end up as the only whale in Essex.
One amazing thing was that it managed to shift Brexit from the front page of the Sun, as it splashed around in the water looking for food.
I am really disappointed because I was staying in that bit of the world only last week and visiting some of the nature reserves around there.
I saw little egret and lots of caterpillars but there was no sign of a whale.
This humpback will, hopefully, head back into the open sea, after feeding in the estuaries in the next few days, where it will stand a lot better chance of survival.
Megabeasts of the ocean do often stray close to the UK coastline and we have had sightings of humpback whales in the Irish Sea in recent years.
Food is plentiful off the Lancashire and Merseyside coast and we do get some surprising wildlife, like turtles, whales and the mighty basking shark.
Last year, a pod of more than 100 bottlenose dolphins were spotted in Liverpool Bay, to the amazement of local people.
The Wildlife Trusts – which live in the depths of what used to be Sherwood Forest – believe that humpback whales are making a comeback.
We are getting more and more sightings of the whales off the UK coast.
Of course, these giants are known for their acrobatic behaviour, leaping out of the sea, with their huge tails being a popular subject for dramatic photographs.
They can actually grow to twice the length of the Essex whale, with some recorded at 60-feet in length. Living up to 50 years they can also weigh more than 40 tons.
They are pretty unmistakable if you spot one off the Blackpool prom.
They have a knobbly head and the long wing-like front flippers that they often raise and slap on the surface.
Their body is black or dark grey with a white underside.
The first sign of a whale is often the blow as they exhale at the surface: in humpback whales the blow is bushy and around three metres high.
After decades of hunting, whales have started to recover and, while they are still heavily protected, humpbacks are concerning scientists the least among whales.
They are found throughout the world’s oceans and actually take part in some of the longest migrations of any mammal.
Our humpbacks devour fish and krill in cooler waters around the UK and Scandinavia and then travel to seas off Africa to give birth, but they are found in the Caribbean Sea too.
So the Essex whale is definitely a bit off course.
The five-metre long front flippers – or pectoral fins – have given the humpback its scientific name, Megaptera novaeangliae.
This means ‘big-winged New-Englander.’
Let’s hope this newsworthy whale flies out of the Thames to safety and, hopefully, some of its friends or family will pop into the Irish Sea to see us in the near future.