Basking Sharks Are Back

Basking sharks are back in British waters.

In the last week the first basking sharks of the summer have been spotted off the Cornish coast as their annual migration brings them to Britain in their hundreds.

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust has again launched its Seaquest Basking Shark Project and is looking for volunteers to help provide a deeper understanding of basking shark distribution and behaviour from Gwennap Head.

Last year 86 volunteers were involved in 71 days of surveys, and during that time basking sharks, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, harbour porpoises and seals were seen, with the highlight being the sighting of a fin whale!

The surveys began on June 1 running from dawn until dusk.

BBC reporter Alex Bushill has filed an interesting piece on the BBC after joining volunteers going in search of a site of the mysterious creature.

He wrote: "On the afternoon I caught up with them at Sennen Cove, nearLand's End, I was blessed with not one but two sightings - their distinctive dorsal fin clear to see."

He added for a fish's eye view of this magnificent creatures you really need to be underwater which is exactly where Dan Burton was on Wednesday of last week.

The unrivalled footage of basking sharks arriving here to feed on clouds of plankton was posted on the BBC website and is featured below.