“Hello beautiful” Runswick Bay sailors encounter Minke Whale

Sue Coverdale and her husband David from Horsforth were cruising up the coast in their speedboat when the North Sea leviathan surfaced in front of them.

This summer has seen a plethora of sightings of marine mammals on this stretch of coastline.

Last month bottlenose dolphins were seen on successive evenings in the middle of Runswick bay and a pair of seals are usually in residence at this picturesque village.

Many people travel from West Yorkshire to visit Runswick every year and some families, like the Coverdales have been holidaying at the village for generations.

Jane Brook from Norwood Green near Halifax can’t remember anybody in her family seeing dolphins in Runswick Bay before - a family tenure of over 100 years.

Evie Clay from Ossett had only ever seen dolphins in the wild from a Greek Island cruise boat.

She wasted no time at all in trying to locate the animals with a pair of binoculars.

Small harbour porpoises have been a regular sight over the years especially beyond Kettleness point but encounters with larger species seem to be on the increase.

Last year Tom Bottomley filmed a rare encounter with a porbeagle shark in the same region.

It can only be seen as a positive that the beauty of our North Yorkshire Coastline is being enhanced by the presence of these wonderful creatures.

Fisherman in inflatable dinghy films ‘nervous’ encounter with a shark off the Yorkshire coast

See our footage of the rare Hummingbird hawk moth