Humpback whales off the coast of Falmouth pull in large crowds

Hundreds of people flocked to Falmouth on Thursday after three humpback whales were spotted off the coast.

Photography student, Luke Stoppard, spotted one whale initially and spread the message on social media.

By the afternoon three whales were visible and an estimated 300 people had gathered at Pendennis Point to view the spectacular sight.

Keen whale spotter Mr Stoppard said he was "quite chuffed" to have seen it.

The marine mammals are a rare site in the waters off Falmouth but they have become increasingly common around Cornish waters in recent years.

Mr Stoppard, who studies marine and natural world photography said: "I popped down with my mum, no specific reason, we had nothing much to do.

"It was funny as my mum said, I don't think you'll see one today as it's quite choppy and then this huge back came out and I was like, 'wow! whale!'"

He spread the message on various wildlife social media groups but said he was not expecting as many people to turn up.

"A couple of people came down, that turned to a couple of hundred and then nearly 300 by the end, it was amazing" he said.

"I think that most people just turned up and happened to be lucky they were there, just saw the crowd and it just got bigger and bigger and bigger".

This was the first time Mr Stoppard had seen a humpback whale and he recently spent two days searching for them off the Newquay coast.

"I'm quite chuffed that I ended up just popping down and it just was there without even trying, it was very nice.

"Actually being able to see a whale in the flesh is not something you get to see everyday and certainly not in Derbyshire where I'm from."

Mr Stoppard praised zoology student Ben Hancock-Smith for capturing a photo of the whale breaching.

"After everyone when was like 'wow', he went 'I've got it, I've got it', and everyone crowded around him to see the photos, he did so well to capture it", he said.

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