Sisters capture the moment huge whale visits Firth of Forth

Avideo shot by two Fife sisters captured the moment one of the largest whale species in the world visited the Firth of Forth.

The relatively rare sighting of a sei whale prompted huge excitement among whale watchers in the UK, with visits to semienclosed waters like the Forth thought to be uncommon.

But while they knew they were lucky to spot the huge animal in the Firth of Forth, the two girls who filmed it certainly did not realise how important it was.

Agathe Mather, 12, managed to capture video footage alongside her sister Sidonie, 15, of the whale’s blow. This turned out to be key in identifying which species it was.

Each whale creates a unique blow, with shapes specific to each species, which allows experts to identify them.

Sharing the footage on social media, Agathe and Sidonie’s dad Andy left whale watchers excited after they realised what species had been caught on camera. He shared the pictures and videos taken by his two daughters on the Scottish/UK Humpback ID Facebook group.

The volunteer-run group helps to track whales that visit Scotland and the UK, and has even identified regular visitors by recording unique identification marks.

The sei whale is actually the third-largest of the species, behind the blue whale and the fin whale, and can grow to as large as 19 metres.

It is thought to be relatively rare for the species to visit enclosed waters, and they usually prefer the deeper, offshore seas closer to Ireland.

It comes as one regular visitor to the Forth appeared on the BBC Scotland programme Landward last night.

Nicknamed Barney, the huge humpback whale has been a regular visitor to the Firth of Forth in recent years and is popular among local wildlife watchers.

The show featured people from Fife reconnecting with nature during lockdown and Barney made his debut appearance.

GIANT VISITOR: Sisters Agathe and Sidonie filmed the sei whale and managed to capture its blow which helped experts identify the species.