Fishermen spot minke whale swimming beside their boat off the Filey coast

Jimmy Bright shared these images of the whale on a bright, clear morning.

He and friend Foster Cammish were fishing for salmon near the Filey Sailing Club and were just 100 yards from the shore when they saw the whale.

Northern minke whales are common off the coasts of Iceland, Norway, Canada, Ireland and Scotland, with the Isle of Mull being a particular hotspot for whale-watching tours.

The industry was also booming in Yorkshire before the lockdown, with many fishermen converting their vessels into tourist boats to run whale and dolphin charter trips.

In September 2018, a tourist filmed a minke whale playing close to a charter boat near Staithes.Earlier that summer a humpback whale was spotted near Whitby for the first time in four years. It was thought to be following the North Sea herring shoals.

So far this spring, there have also been regular sightings of a pod of bottlenose dolphins that have travelled south from the Moray Firth in northern Scotland down the North Sea coast.

They were filmed near Marine Drive in Scarborough this month and have also been seen off Bridlington Bay and at Flamborough Head, where their feeding grounds are.