Shark spotting’s on the Cornish coast aren’t unusual, but a local birdwatcher has claimed that he saw a Great White Shark, which definitely would be!
Brian Mellow, 59, was at the headland at Pendeen looking out to see when he saw a large fin. At first he thought it was a basking shark, but as the creature got closer to the rocks below a wave revealed more of the large animal.
As he realised it was a six-metre long Great White, he called out to his fellow bird watchers who were preoccupied with a sighting of a rare bird. He was also unable to get a snap of the sea giant as he only had his binoculars with him, not a camera.
Mellow explained “I’ve been a bird watcher for years and I’ve done a lot of sea watching – hundreds of hours,” he continued “I’ve seen other sharks before and it wasn’t a basking shark, or a mako shark or a porbeagle.”
Leading shark experts in the UK have labelled Mellow as a “good witness” thanks to his years of experience of observing. Richard Peirce, a former chairman of The Shark Trust explained how he has investigated nearly 100 claimed sightings of Great White sharks in UK waters over the past 20 years. “Unfortunately he (Brian Mellow) only saw the shark for about four seconds and was not able to get a photo, so no positive I.D. can be made” he explained, although he did confirm that he will be logging the sighting in his records.
There are over 30 shark species in UK waters and no confirmed sightings of Great Whites, despite compelling anecdotal evidence. Until we have solid evidence, experts can’t be sure if Jaws really is in the waters along our coastline, we may not need a bigger boat after all.
