The tale fluke of one of the humpbacks as the whale disappeared below the surface. Picture: Brenna Young.
True giants of the ocean surprised delighted onlookers in the Moray Firth last night.
For wildlife fans visiting the famous dolphin-spotting site at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle were treated to an even larger aquatic wonder than the one they expected – sightings of majestic humpback whales.
The huge baleen species, which can grow up to 17 metres in length (more than 50 feet) and weigh upwards of 40 metric tons, were spotted offshore at around 8.10pm on Wednesday.
One of the delighted onlookers was Brenna Young (17) from Inverness – an avid photographer who is due to start an HNC Photography college course this September.
She had popped along to Chanonry Point to see if she could photograph any of the bottlenose dolphins that regularly delight visitors and locals alike.
And those camera skills came in very handy, as she snapped several images of the giant Humpbacks as they swam in the waters of the inner firth for around 40 minutes before moving on.
The distinctive dorsal fin of the humpback is visible in this shot. Picture: Brenna Young.
Brenna said: “I went over to Chanonry Point last night with the intention to photograph dolphins, but was pleasantly surprised with a Humpback.
“The first sighting of it was at 8.10pm and was in the area for around 40 minutes, and we think there may have been two humpbacks in as there was one close in to the shore, whilst my friend spotted one further out towards Ardersier.
“The dolphins had been in and were feeding on salmon, however once the whale had been spotted, the dolphins disappeared before reappearing once it had headed out in the firth and the calves did some breaching.”
Although a fairly rare sight, humpbacks are also no strangers to Highland waters, with lucky onlookers reporting sightings on several occasions in recent years.
This included a sighting of one of the species that dared to venture even further up the firth, where it was spotted close to the Kessock Bridge back in April.
At the time, marine conservationists explained that to see a humpback so far up the firth was very rare, but that the sighting was likely down to a recent abundance of smaller fish in the area that baleen whales like to eat.
Previous sightings included one in the entrance to the Cromarty Firth back in 2016, which delighted passengers on a local wildlife spotting boat.
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