Edinburgh paddle boarders enjoy close encounter with rare sei whale in Forth off Joppa

‘It has found some good feeding and it’s quite happy to be here’

A sei whale has been spotted swimming near paddle boarders off Edinburgh’s Portobello beach at Joppa.

Sei whales are the third largest whales in the world and one of the fastest, but numbers were greatly diminished by commercial whaling and there are now estimated to be only between 57,000 and 65,000. It is now an internationally protected species.

Ken Thomas, from Dalkeith, travelled to Joppa on Sunday after seeing posts of social media and took this photograph, showing the whale close to the paddle boarders. He estimated the total length of the whale at around 20 metres.

Paddleboarders off Joppa get a close look at the sei whale on Sunday morning. Picture: Ken Thomas.

He said: “They reckon it has been there for about a week. I went on Friday and Saturday, just briefly, and didn’t see it, but other people did. But the conditions were perfect on Sunday morning. I was there for a couple of hours. It was doing circuits in front of Inch Keith and it was coming up every five or 15 minutes. This is the first time I’ve seen a sei whale, so I’m really quite excited. There have been sei whales in the Forth before, but it’s not common.”

A sei whale was washed up on a South Queensferry beach last month during Storm Babet and died despite efforts to save it. But Mr Thomas said there were no signs the latest whale was in any danger or distress. "Those in the know reckon its behaviour is perfectly normal, it has found some good feeding and it’s quite happy to be here. It’s out in deep water, it’s not heading in towards the shallows, so there’s no indication at all that it’s not well or it’s upset.”

Sei whales avoid polar and tropical waters but can be found in most of the world’s oceans and deep offshore waters. The name “sei whale” comes from the Norwegian word for pollock, a fish which appears off the coat of Norway around the same time of year as the whale.

Lyndsay McNeill, of the Firth of Forth Whale and Dolphin Facebook group, said it was a surprise to have a sei whale in this area. “Their normal habitat is deeper water in the Atlantic and it’s very unusual to have one here in shallower waters. One first appeared here in 2021 and was beached and one in October this year had the same fate. They are a long way from home and their usual prey of squid in deep waters . Hopefully this one will be ok.”