I was on the Blue Fox when we saw the great white, you couldn't mistake it. We were fishing for porbeagle sharks and from the off the skipper Phil Britts said there was something not quite right - birds weren't settling in the rubby dubby slick etc. I was in South Africa not long after we saw the great white off the coast of Cornwall, I went on one of those great white sightseeing trips out of Gansbaai, amazing to see, but all it really did was confirm to me that yes, we did see a great white in UK waters..............
@@AirbornePirates No worries, thank you for putting the video together, really interesting stuff...........we were amazed, don't get me wrong, but we never went to the press and said we had seen a great white. The press got hold of it, I think it was my fault. I am a fishing journalist, I told another fishing journo I knew at the time, I think he put something about it in his local newspaper column, and then the world suddenly went mad for it!
@@henrygilbey302 would you be interesting in telling me about it over a video call for the channel, I think lots of people would love to hear a first hand experience
Yes a video call is something I would love too watch Henry. I was on holiday in Padstow in 2015 and saw Phil and Mike on the blue fox. I was fascinated by there 1st hand account. Matt I have just emailed you.... I hope you find my email informative
@@AirbornePirates It was a fairly long time ago now, but I reckon I can remember most of it! Would be happy to talk about it for your channel, thanks for asking me..........
Yes. One is long overdue and I think your right in pointing to the west coast of Scotland. Obviously the south coast might be more sensible but those who think outside the box usually get the prize.
@Islander Outdoors I really love you youtube videos. I have been fancinated with sharks all my life. I truely beileve they are in our waters. Truely remarkable that with all these sightings ect that their has not been any attacks. My uncle used to work as a diver in the Navy and he has seen plenty of sharks over the years when going to different countries. Hes seen some really bad stuff. All sharks deserve to have our respect because they have been here from the begining over 450million years. Keep the good work up and hope they are more videos to come :)
Another brilliant video, absolutely loving this mini series great content, please please please make the 2022 shark hunt around the UK happen, i hope you can assemble the team to do this. Did you ever see the video on T A fishing about the multiple sightings of a very large predatory shark in and around Langstone harbour Portsmouth area, looking forward to episode 5 brilliant mate
Hi Jimmy! I hadn’t seen the video from TA fishing until recently, Graham seems like a top bloke’ I’m hoping I can pull off the shark expedition! It will happen one way or another 🇬🇧🦈
@@AirbornePirates grahams a cracking bloke, great videos he makes and very knowledgeable,your videos are coming across great too,people look at us "sharkers" as a bit nutty but i always go with the "why WOULDNT there be G Whites in our waters"? It pretty much mirrors those african coasts and stacks of seals too! I think only way there wont be any is down to something we still havent found out about their lives, maybe a certain food type or temperature range thats essential to them but only available in their known locations,some mystery yet to be revealed.
I grew up being fascinated with sharks my all time favourite film of corse is jaws . I have seen a couple of sharks around Lochinver area while camping with my son who spotted the shark first . But before the shark came wandering we were catch all kind of fish pollock coalies mackerel and some others . But as soon as the shark which was around 10ft came in every fish stopped eating and disappeared . The shark wasn't a Basking shark as I have seen them before plus we were looking down onto it so you only see its back and its scars around its Gill rakes and on the dorsal fin also . But keep the great work up and I will pray you get to do your work here in Scotland in 2022 all the best . Kevin
I'm obsessed with this little series you've got going! I literally get so excited whenever I get the notification that you've made another one! I'd love to see you go on a expedition next year looking for whiteys in our waters 🙌🦈
Congrats on your channel Islander. Great video. The year 2003 was really crazy. That year I was in Croatia visiting my grandfather. I told to my uncle that there could be white sharks in Croatia after getting the information from Ian Fergusons documentary Jaws in the Med. My uncle told me that there is no such thing in Croatian waters. Guess what? Same year they said on the radio that a female white shark (5+ meters) was caught by the island of Jabuka (Apple) in Croatia. The nursery for european white sharks seems to be Sicily and those sharks swim all the way to Croatia. Interesting is the fact that you mentioned seals. Where the food is there is a chance that great whites can be. So the interesting food sources are seals, dolphins, turtles and tuna. Furthermore I was commentating a youtuber video here in Sweden where a person was talking about if a white shark could come to nordic waters. I mentioned the fact that the white sharks body system is temperature preserving which means that the shark can easily come to colder waters and preserve its body temperature while doing so. I just couldn't find my comment later on :). I hope you get all the funds you need because this subject is so interesting.
I don’t even know how I found your channel, but I’m glad I did. Seen all your videos now and they keep getting better. Keep it up and good luck with your expedition!
This is fantastic! Like you I’ve always thought that conditions were good for great whites. I’m so glad you’re doing theses videos and bring together all the sightings and evidence in one place. You have an enquiring mind so look into the varying sources and j it just take the one viewpoint. It’s fascinating. Well done.
Lovin' these videos, hope your expedition happens, I believe the GWs are around our coast already, seeing the footage to prove it would be amazing. Good hunting.
The photo of the dorsal fin in the net. Looks like a Great White to me. (White's have terrified me and then fascinated me for 35 years!) The lighter gradient marking at the front base is as much a tell as anything. Great channel, subscribed. Look forward to your expedition.
I’m in north norfolk not very far from Sherringham. We have a large seal colony on Blakeney point. I’ve said fir a long while it’s an ideal food source for big sharks.
@@johnpollitt4456 other whale turn up here too. Lots of fish that shouldn’t be here are here at times, if you know you know. There were recent instances of seals attacked by what they think were Greenland sharks too back when the wind farm off Wells was being built.
Love your videos. Bloke I work with is from Devon and said it's pretty much common knowledge in the coastal communities that Whites are out there. My dad use to work that way also and the fishermen said they see them from time to time.
I was in St Ives a few years back, in s surf/clothing shop and the dude behind the counter was talking with another couple of older local dudes. It was around the time of one of the national tabloid UK whits shark sighting stories they like to run every few summers and the dudes were laughing about it. They were saying that local water users have known that whites are in the waters for years and found it amusing that it was front page news. UK water conditions are generally perfect for whites and seal populations are plentiful so the better question is, why would they not be here?
@@theyliebutwhy8101 Wouldn't disagree, water here is too cold for me lol but not too cold for white sharks. Their distribution is pretty much global, they're fine with Alaskan water temperatures so I'm pretty sure they'd be fine with those of the UK 👍
@@theyliebutwhy8101 White sharks are found across a wide range of temperatures. White sharks frequent a lot of places with cold water at least part of the year, such as Australia, South Africa, California, Cape Cod, New Zealand, Canada, and even Alaska. Are you claiming Britain has colder waters than Canada and Alaska? Fact is, British water temperatures for half the year are right in the same range as a lot of other white shark hot spots. There is no reason at all why white sharks wouldn’t be in British waters, which is why I suspect they are.
Great channel! Try teaming up with Graham Pullen of TA Fishing - he’s convinced they are here and he holds the U.K. rod and line record for Porbeagle and Thresher Shark - he’s been out trying to catch them in the South Coast. Best of luck and may your secret chum bring them in!
@@AirbornePirates I hope they are not going to be caught. Sharks populations are getting hammered and are vitally important in the marine ecosystem. Great Whites are protected in NZ.
What a great channel! Can't believe I've only just found this! Been fascinated by Great Whites for as long as I can remember, the concept of them in these waters is very exciting for me and these accounts certainly seem credible 👍🦈 keep up the good work 👌
I've been utterly convinced that Great White sharks visit UK waters ever since at the age of 14 I got into a three way debate between me a know- it-all in class and our Geography teacher way back in 1976. I spoke up saying killer sharks existed in UK waters while know-it-all piped up 'we only get Basking Sharks ..' Then the Geography teacher said " Actually, he's right ! There's sharks coming up from the Gulf of Mexico such as Makos, Tigers and probably Great Whites but the reason there been no confirmed sightings is the fact they're about 2-3 miles off the coast " 1976 was known for its blistering hot summer, leading to warmer than usual sea temperatures so my Geography teacher may well have been right. And im sure UK waters could support a few Great Whites coming up from the Gulf of Mexico or even the Bay of Biscay where they've been definitely spotted.
Just come across your channel mate, just talking about an expedition for sharks has me excited and I'm just watching you. They're an amazing animal and yet one we know very little about still. I'll keep watching.
I saw what I believe was a Great White while fishing off Downpatrick head cliff in county Mayo Ireland. I distinctly saw its full profile leap out of water full body in air. It was at least 20 foot long. There were seals and seal cubs in the water at that time also. Everything about its profile size and fins and behaviour leads me to conclude it was a Great White.
I want to come on the expedition! I have absolutely zero experience with anything to do with the sea 😂 but I’ve always beloved GW sharks live in our waters , my family laughed at me for Years so I’d love for you to prove this ! Love the channel keep up the good work 🥰
Excellent vid mate, love the idea of these top predators being in uk waters. Think maybe looking for protection status for the white shark in our waters, would be a good idea
Absolutely love this channel . Can’t wait for the next episode . Unfortunately based in Slovakia now but would love travel round the Uk after a glimpse of one . keep the vids coming mate .
I've been fascinated by sharks all my life since watching Jacques Cousteau's superb films. To me, the notion that the Great White is a warm water species is a complete myth. The prevailing currents around the southern cape of South Africa come northwards from the Antarctic; that is a cold current. Wherever you have colonies of seals, I have no doubt you will find the Great White. So it would not surprise me if you manage to see them stalking the seal colonies in Scotland's coastal waters. By the way, you will also be able to see Orcas around Shetland in the summer months. I hope you manage to get your proposed expedition off the ground and I wish you luck with it.
I always thought the myth was that they preferred cold water. In truth, they don’t really seem to care as long as there’s an abundant supply of seals, tuna, dolphins, or whale calves. They’ve been seen more often in the Gulf of Mexico (which is like bath water in the summer), but they’ve also been seen in Alaska and Nova Scotia. We now know they spend some time in Hawaii, which was always thought to be tiger shark territory. They were abundant in the Caribbean before the Spanish killed off all the monk seals. They even used to hang out in the Bosporus waiting on migrating tuna.
Fantastic video. Nice to see someone make a video about our Great White Sharks ( if they are here ) in the U.K. who clearly has a genuine scientific and common sense approach and is not just scaremongering. I live in Cornwall and, though I’ve never been out on a boat here, I have often seen basking sharks from the coast path when I’m walking the dog. I now wonder if all was as it seems. Good luck with the expedition if you get to do it. The question isn’t “Are they here?”, it’s more “Why wouldn’t they be here?” As you say the conditions are perfect.
If there's a good sighting around this islands my money is on NW Ireland. We have a good amount of Porbeagle, blue etc etc but we also have like Scotland massive seal colonies. However back in the 90s a seal was found with a big bite radius and it was triangular teeth that made it apparently. A big shark had been seen around the same time around the seal island. There's a good few stories of large sharks from fishing boats and shore anglers too...although fishermen can be prone to a touch of exaggeration possibly :-) Since then the whole area has become a surfers paradise with many coming from around the world for the massive Atlantic waves. If Whitey is around it may only be a matter of time before he makes himself known.
I remember seeing a few basking sharks breach the water on Achill Island on the West coast of Ireland. At the time there was a seal nearby & the seal ran for the shore as fast as it could. The seal must have experience with great whites to have behaved like that.
Only found your channel a week , its fantastic ! i lived in Brisbane for three years , just before moving back to the UK , i had my last fishing trip with a family member just of Southport ( Gold Coast) i hooked a snapper ( boy they put up a fight !) a few meters from the boat and bang ! something big and grey took my catch , line an all including my heavy duty trace ffs
I understand the shock and concern. We have bull sharks in our Mississippi River. I love sharks. After 3 close calls, I learned GREAT respect for them.
Only found your channel like a month ago, but oh boy the vids in this series are keenly waited for! I genuinely think they do visit our waters and they are here, but (im so far from an expert) i think theyre extremely widely dispersed, so there might be 5 or 6 of them around the uk at any one time, but with so much water to cover no ones managed to film one or get an absolutely i dislutable pic! Also im aware it varies regionally, but a lot of beaches ive been to are very steeply shelved into rapidly deep water, and although im sure whites are fearless, i think they're wary of getting close to shore in most places, and especially on the atlantic side, even if they are close to the surface, even from the air the murky water would make them next to invisible. I genuinely hope you're the one to catch them on film in our waters one day, and i honestly think you will, BUT im sure you're aware its a mammoth task, and may take yearz and years of searching, you may of already been close to one and never even knew! Eitherway, as i said i eagerly await your vids on this series, and wish you the best! EDIT: on the subject of seals, on the south coast, ignoring cornwall, through the english channel from the dorset coast east, there is only ONE colony of seals,pilot and harbour seals, which live in chichester harbour, and haul out on the sand banks off thorney island at low tide, ive seen them a few times and its a very very rare sight in sussex... but theres about 30 of them, and could be a small food source for a single shark, but due to the shipping in that area, i doubt its likely! I guess my point is, the central south coast has only 1 region with a food source for a white, and my best guess is if you were gonna see one there, itd be off the coast from east of langstone harbour, to bracklesham bay area
Great vid mate 👌🏻 jeez so many potential sightings in Scotland 😱 like you say I think I think the best place to start is around Scotland. Most sightings seem to come from there. If funds are needed for a voyage you could set up a go fund me. I’m sure plenty of people would happily give what they could to help fund an expedition 👍🏻
Great video (as always) interesting about the Salmon shark found in UK waters when they are normally in N. Pacific waters! I've heard about the Blue Fox incident before & it sounds very, very credible indeed along with the Summer Isles (Ullapool) encounter. I was lucky enough to snorkel alongside a Basking Shark a few weeks ago which was totally amazing & the best snorkel of my life. Keep doing these videos, I love 'em!
Wow awesome sightings great video !!! I swam next to a basking shark when i was a kid in scotlsnd i do believe that if orca then gr8 white too especially in hotter weather in summer prob near seal colonies 🦈🦈🦈
Great video! Not surprised the sightings in Scotland were in clusters though, sounds like a great white passing through. I’ve noted that the ‘disappearance’ of great whites from South Africa is being blamed on a pod of orcas moving in, as they prey on great whites. With there being a resident pod of orcas in Scotland I’m not sure it would be the best place to look for great whites, but I’m no expert. Somewhere where there’s a large seal population but no orcas might be a safer bet, such as the Welsh coast or the Northumberland coast. Fantastic video anyway, thank you😀
Not all killer whales hunt sharks. Every killer whale population specializes in different prey groups. The two species overlap in many of the white shark’s hot spots, and yet the white shark population is growing in most of them.
Thank you so much. I love this series. I share all of them on Twitter. Also thank you for promoting how important the conservation of all sharks is critical. You ever need a hand I'm in... And for the record I do believe they are here, Always have done. Also there is a great proliferation of Great White Shark's in Canada, primarily, Grand Banks Nova Scotia. Great salmon = seals= sharks. And as you state Great Whites are endothermic so water temperatures don't bother them. Check where Ocearch are at the moment. #SaveSharks And keep up the great work. Thanks again.
Amazing video, if I was you i would be sick with excitement, I absolutely love great white sharks or any sharks thinking about it; These videos are absolutely amazing.
My father had a great story about a shark encounter, he was a diver for Grampian police in the 80s and 90s and they used to do lots of training ,1 time they were training over on the west coast of scotland couple of teams with Ribs,they have 2 divers in water at a decompression stop when somebody in 1 of the ribs sees a shark fin coming towards them , it then cruised right by them watched by everyone in the boats ,it was then decided between them that it was a great white whereupon someone says “what about the divers in the water “ it was then decided DONT TELL THE DIVERS reason being if you tell the divers they are down there with a great white they will come shooting out the water like a torpedo and then you will have 2 divers with the bends , they only told them once they got them out the water 😂
@@alf345sheesh4 Killer whales don’t resemble white sharks at all. These people said they saw it close up and it was a shark. They might have mistaken a basking or porbeagle/mako shark for a white shark, but definitely not a killer.
Hey. Greetings from Scotland. Love love love ur show. I am obsessed with great whites. I would be over the moon to see one in British waters. I believe the stories. They are so beautiful and fascinating . Keep the info coming 👍🦈
Fantastic to see you giving this topic more exposure and you are doing a cracking job. I am familiar with the sightings you covered through having read Richard Peirce’s books and the credibility of the Blue Fox and Ullapool sightings in particular, have always fascinated me because of the credentials of the witnesses. Peirce believes they are occasional visitors to our shores and that feels about right to me. On NZ, there are several ‘incidents’ from the 1960’s attributed to White Sharks (look at GSAF) so it is weird they didn’t acknowledge their existence there until the 1970’s. With more people than ever using the waters around the UK for recreation etc and with phones and drones increasingly prevalent, it is surely only a matter of time before we get the proof they visit these shores and so I very much hope your proposed expedition comes to fruition. Good luck.
2003 was a heatwave year so ocean temps round the west coast of Scotland would have been pleasant, September west coast water is at its warmest add in fish farms with a lot of fish urine and waste occasionally blood from salmon harvest and wild salmon runs and seals attracted also to all that lot there's a lot to attract large predators into the area.
I think Donna nook where I live has the largest grey seal colony I heard stories of seals washing up with heads bitten off people said it would have been makos 🤷🏻♂️. I would love to go on an expedition with you around Britain looking for great whites. Brilliant informative channel.
Great video buddy...I for one have always been intrigued by Great White sharks and if they are or ever have been in our waters..Everytime I swim off our beaches I'm thinking of them!!...Lol...I do believe that most sightings are large Porbeagles or are they???...I hope you can do the 2022 Shark hunt and will await the results with baited breath...Best of luck guys...😁😁🦈🦈🦈
I'm totally convinced we have Great Whites visiting the UK. I saw a very large shark twice in one week (it was almost certainly the same one) at Dawlish back around 2000, in August. The first time was near the stone jetty by the beach (really close to the beach). I was standing near the end of the jetty, and there were dolphins breaching a couple of hundred metres or so out in the bay. I saw the dorsal and tail fin, approximately 8-9 feet apart, and it was moving slowing closer towards the shore - in pretty shallow water. The dorsal was tall, triangular and a drab grey in colour. I didn't get a long look at the fish (maybe 10 seconds or so) and I'm no expert. It suddenly turned really quickly and darted off towards deeper water showing a clearly white underside. Two of us saw it, and reported it to the tourist information office, where a guy was reporting seeing a Thresher shark the day before at Torquay. They advised me to report it to an Ocean wildlife research team who were working over at Ladram Bay, where I was shown some dorsal fin photos, and the one that I picked was a Great White, though it wasn't identified as that on the photo, so I didn't know what I was selecting, just the shape of the fin. They asked if I could drop in to see a colleague at the Sealife Centre at Weston-super-Mare, and he confirmed that what we'd seen was almost certainly a Great White. A week later I was there again with a friend, and just after we'd arrived, we saw a very large shark breach right in front of us maybe 100 metres out. We both stood there open mouthed, and I turned to my mate and said "Did we just see that?" He said "That looked like a Great White". It was massive. Mostly what we saw from our angle was the underside, which was white and it had a crescent shaped mouth - definitely no basking shark. The side we saw was grey rather than blue. We were beach fishing there for the entire day, but didn't see it again. We have talked about it many times over the years, and have never doubted what we saw.
I lived on Sanday, Orkney in the mid 80s. I used to surf there, Sanday has some excellent waves. There were lots of seals and sometimes some would surf waves with me, my only companions in the water! A neighbour told me Killer Whales came annually to cull the seal pups, however it never even occurred to me there could be sharks around. Anyway it wouldn't put me off surfing there though I might keep an extra eye out for a dorsal fin! Paddle for the beach...
Thank you for another great video. I can’t imagine them not being here. Our waters are perfect for them in every single way. I believe they were only confirmed in New Zealand in the 70’s, and have recently been found off Russia’s pacific coast. It’s just a matter of time until we have a confirmed sighting.
New Zealand isn't a great comparison. They've always been there, it's just that NZ's population and area is small and they were rarely noticed. Here in Australia they're routinely sighted and on average kill 1-2 people a year.
I watched another of ur vids last night and mentioned that I’d heard of tiger shark sightings on the SW coast of Scotland, where im from, after watching great white sightings in British waters and u mention the seal kills and that where the great whites would go… we have an island called the lady isle which is a seal haven. We’ve had orca sightings lately and a lot of dolphins and whales. More than usual. The lady isle is kinda inbetween Saltcoats and the island of Arran if u wanna check it out.
I live in Australia and have seen a few when fishing and once when surfing. They are very distinctive could Mabey mistake a Mako for one but in the UK can't think of many that would be easily mistaken for a white. Every time I have seen one in a boat they have come up to the boat every time, they seem to be curious.
Although I didn't report this sighting so make of it what you will, myself and two other couples who were walking their dog's saw and heard a lot of thrashing in the water off the coastline near Hartland point. ( N. Devon) We watched for about a minute or so......a seal being pursued by a monster shark. This fish was big......I couldn't give an approximate size but the seal looked at least a quarter of the size. There was so much thrashing in the water that I couldn't be more specific in detail. The fish obviously expended a lot of energy and gave up as the seal made a bee line to the rocks. We stood there for at half an hour hoping to see it again but it disappeared in the choppy water. This happened year's back.....about 1995/ 96 ? I've never really mentioned it before until I just saw your video.
I have just seen your channel pop up on my Google news feed. (Hopefully that's a great start for you getting your crew together) I definitely hope you're successful with that. I'm sure you will be! I am totally obsessed with sharks! Especially the Great White. My auntie and uncle and 2 cousins live in Cape Town south Africa where I would love to go one day and go out and see them in their natural habitat! (Well if there's any still down there..) My cousin came over to England and told us an amazing story about Great Whites... but I won't go on. But if anyone wants to know please ask. Good luck with everything and in the meantime please keep posting!! Excellent!!! 🦈
It is also very interesting regarding tagged great white sharks behaviour. One was obeserved in California killing a seal. The shark bite once and then went away, to let the seal bleed and then consumed it. The same shark was breaching in Shark Bay, South Africa over one year later, and it was leaving its natural enviroment totally. It attacked a "fake" seal, leaving the water totally, and it was estimated to be around 5 meters. And this was around 10-15 years ago. I still have it on VHS.
Love your videos! I'm in Australia but love hearing about UK shark sightings. I believe they are already there in the UK! Lots of prey, safe from predators and water temperature perfect. Look into Tasmania, it's not known for its sharks BUT there has been today incidents involving massive Great white's. I think they use the safer water for giving birth. Like UK and Tassie. That's why you get sightings of big one's!
I'm sure I remember reading about sightings of huge whites in Tasmanian waters? Wasn't it also of the coast of Taz where that lad got plucked from a boat by a white not too long ago?
@@ftgoggi4715 yes my friend, a white jumped out the water and pulled a boy into the sea, totally unheard off! The Dad jumped into the water and rescued the boy. Few vids on you tube. UK waters similar temp, think Bournemouth water is warmer in the summer months..
You could drive up to Scotland and ask the seals have they seen one. Get a huge great white cut out photo and present it up to them and see there reaction!!
Really interesting stuff - I too believe there is no reason why Great Whites shouldn't inhabit our waters, albeit on a purely transient basis e.g. quick stop off to feed whilst en-route to wherever! I am not a marine biologist, although I did touch on marine biology and oceanography when studying for a Biology degree. I am aware of the influence of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift on the movement of marine life and often wondered if this would explain why these sightings seem to occur sporadically rather than on a regular basis. I also wonder how events such as the 2004 Tsunami (and more recent happenings) influence the overall balance of the oceans and if this again can throw the marine ecosystems out of kilter for a short time and result in the 'clusters' of appearances of what are/were believed to be Great Whites around the coast of the UK.
Loving the videos keep them coming, here in Northern Ireland and they have to here there was a shark expert recently said Donegal and the west coast was the ideal environment for them
@@AirbornePirates when I saw a Great White last year off Downpatrick head cliff I reported the sighting to Dr Ken Collins Senior Research Fellow & Diving Officer, Ocean and Earth Science, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences University of Southampton National Oceanography Centre UK. You could talk to him I'm sure.
I grew up in Jamaica, I love sea swimming, snorkelling, fishing with hand lines. Jamaican waters are very safe. Almost all the best swimming/tourist area beaches are reef protected, high tide 3 feet or less atop most reefs, which are anything between 2-4 hundred yards from water's edge. If memory serves me right there have been no more than 3 fatal attacks in the last 200+ years, and one of those a Darwin Award medal, first class. Guy was spearfishing outside the reef (can be 1,000 + feet !), and stringing the kills on a wire loop through his belt! Talk about tempting fate! Heck, I won't spearfish, period. Not long after learning to swim, I came up with my own few simple rules for safety when swimming; I 'skinny dip' only in the bath; I NEVER swim in the sea at dusk, in the night, or very early a.m. Was so pleased to recently discover that those simple 'rules' I've applied since age 12 are ex actly(!) what Florida residents (non Darwin Award aspirants) advise all visitors to observe.
Absolutely excellent video. I would be very interested to help in any way in your future expeditions, I am a qualified Paddi Diver to Rescue level. Also have limited accomodation available for free in the Dumfries area of Scotland should this be needed. It would be a dream realised to witness the ultimate predator in our waters. Thanks in anticipation, Dave.
Took a holiday to plymouth in 2003 and went to the aquarium there. met a marine biologist and said to her "when are you going to get a white shark " she said "we cant because we have not got a tank big enough. I replied "well i have heard they are in our waters", her reply excited me when she said "yes they are , they are about 40 miles off the north devon coast and we go out to see them"!!!
I have no doubt that Great White's are an occasional visitor to our waters as we do have the right conditions at least some of the time. We really need to start getting photographic/video evidence though. Really nicely done video though mate, well done.
nice stuff. ex surfer...plenty of shark encounters over 45 years in the water. Hawaii, Florida North Carolina California Baja Mexico Costa Rica, Nicaragua Australia Bali lombok Jawa Sumatra
You're right, we need a proper task force set up to study the waters around the UK for great white shark activity. I'm fairly sure at some point they must have been close to our shores. It would be fantastic to get that confirmed. I hope you get the chance to get a team together. Sounds fun!
You need to expedition in the channel Islands, we have a decent seal count around the ecrehoes and the minquies, should chat with Tony heart from the boat Anna 2, I'm sure he could shed some light, I'm adamant that they pass our Islands, we have a decent amount of blue fin tuna, seals and school shoals around our coast, and water temperature is good for them.
You know i'm like 49 years of age now,i was brought up with fish,weather they be marine or fresh water, my Dad always had tanks and i got my first tank as a 10yr old,i consider myself to have taken fish keeping to the next level if you like,it wouldn't surprise me at all if great whites were in our waters at all.
I was on the Blue Fox when we saw the great white, you couldn't mistake it. We were fishing for porbeagle sharks and from the off the skipper Phil Britts said there was something not quite right - birds weren't settling in the rubby dubby slick etc. I was in South Africa not long after we saw the great white off the coast of Cornwall, I went on one of those great white sightseeing trips out of Gansbaai, amazing to see, but all it really did was confirm to me that yes, we did see a great white in UK waters..............
This is amazing Henry! I fully believe the Blue Fox was legit encounter. Thank you for viewing
@@AirbornePirates No worries, thank you for putting the video together, really interesting stuff...........we were amazed, don't get me wrong, but we never went to the press and said we had seen a great white. The press got hold of it, I think it was my fault. I am a fishing journalist, I told another fishing journo I knew at the time, I think he put something about it in his local newspaper column, and then the world suddenly went mad for it!
@@henrygilbey302 would you be interesting in telling me about it over a video call for the channel, I think lots of people would love to hear a first hand experience
Yes a video call is something I would love too watch Henry. I was on holiday in Padstow in 2015 and saw Phil and Mike on the blue fox. I was fascinated by there 1st hand account. Matt I have just emailed you.... I hope you find my email informative
@@AirbornePirates It was a fairly long time ago now, but I reckon I can remember most of it! Would be happy to talk about it for your channel, thanks for asking me..........
Who thinks I should do an expedition in 2022, looking for Great Whites in British waters? I'm also on Instagram, give me a follow :)
I’ll be your camera gal
look for the seals and you will find them for sure
Yes. One is long overdue and I think your right in pointing to the west coast of Scotland. Obviously the south coast might be more sensible but those who think outside the box usually get the prize.
Me defo
I'll join you. More we know the safer for the sharks.
Fantastic news, looking forward to your adventure Islander
@Islander Outdoors I really love you youtube videos. I have been fancinated with sharks all my life. I truely beileve they are in our waters. Truely remarkable that with all these sightings ect that their has not been any attacks. My uncle used to work as a diver in the Navy and he has seen plenty of sharks over the years when going to different countries. Hes seen some really bad stuff. All sharks deserve to have our respect because they have been here from the begining over 450million years. Keep the good work up and hope they are more videos to come :)
Another brilliant video, absolutely loving this mini series great content, please please please make the 2022 shark hunt around the UK happen, i hope you can assemble the team to do this. Did you ever see the video on T A fishing about the multiple sightings of a very large predatory shark in and around Langstone harbour Portsmouth area, looking forward to episode 5 brilliant mate
Hi Jimmy! I hadn’t seen the video from TA fishing until recently, Graham seems like a top bloke’ I’m hoping I can pull off the shark expedition! It will happen one way or another 🇬🇧🦈
love this wee series too! it's soo good
@@AirbornePirates grahams a cracking bloke, great videos he makes and very knowledgeable,your videos are coming across great too,people look at us "sharkers" as a bit nutty but i always go with the "why WOULDNT there be G Whites in our waters"? It pretty much mirrors those african coasts and stacks of seals too! I think only way there wont be any is down to something we still havent found out about their lives, maybe a certain food type or temperature range thats essential to them but only available in their known locations,some mystery yet to be revealed.
I grew up being fascinated with sharks my all time favourite film of corse is jaws . I have seen a couple of sharks around Lochinver area while camping with my son who spotted the shark first . But before the shark came wandering we were catch all kind of fish pollock coalies mackerel and some others . But as soon as the shark which was around 10ft came in every fish stopped eating and disappeared . The shark wasn't a Basking shark as I have seen them before plus we were looking down onto it so you only see its back and its scars around its Gill rakes and on the dorsal fin also . But keep the great work up and I will pray you get to do your work here in Scotland in 2022 all the best . Kevin
I'm obsessed with this little series you've got going! I literally get so excited whenever I get the notification that you've made another one! I'd love to see you go on a expedition next year looking for whiteys in our waters 🙌🦈
I agree totally, awesome channel!
Fin-tastic, sorry!!, series. Thank you for keeping this going. So interesting.
Congrats on your channel Islander. Great video. The year 2003 was really crazy. That year I was in Croatia visiting my grandfather. I told to my uncle that there could be white sharks in Croatia after getting the information from Ian Fergusons documentary Jaws in the Med. My uncle told me that there is no such thing in Croatian waters. Guess what? Same year they said on the radio that a female white shark (5+ meters) was caught by the island of Jabuka (Apple) in Croatia. The nursery for european white sharks seems to be Sicily and those sharks swim all the way to Croatia. Interesting is the fact that you mentioned seals. Where the food is there is a chance that great whites can be. So the interesting food sources are seals, dolphins, turtles and tuna.
Furthermore I was commentating a youtuber video here in Sweden where a person was talking about if a white shark could come to nordic waters. I mentioned the fact that the white sharks body system is temperature preserving which means that the shark can easily come to colder waters and preserve its body temperature while doing so. I just couldn't find my comment later on :).
I hope you get all the funds you need because this subject is so interesting.
Cracking video, cheers. Love the thought of these amazing creatures being in the water up here in Scotland, as you say, plenty of seals to munch on!
I don’t even know how I found your channel, but I’m glad I did. Seen all your videos now and they keep getting better.
Keep it up and good luck with your expedition!
This is fantastic! Like you I’ve always thought that conditions were good for great whites. I’m so glad you’re doing theses videos and bring together all the sightings and evidence in one place. You have an enquiring mind so look into the varying sources and j
it just take the one viewpoint. It’s fascinating. Well done.
Lovin' these videos, hope your expedition happens, I believe the GWs are around our coast already, seeing the footage to prove it would be amazing. Good hunting.
Keep up the good work. It’s informative and interesting.
The photo of the dorsal fin in the net. Looks like a Great White to me. (White's have terrified me and then fascinated me for 35 years!) The lighter gradient marking at the front base is as much a tell as anything. Great channel, subscribed. Look forward to your expedition.
Yes I want this expedition!! You make my day when I see you post 😃
Forgot to say..GREAT video. Well presented and with just the right amount of info to stimulate thought on this topic. Thanks very much !
I’m in north norfolk not very far from Sherringham. We have a large seal colony on Blakeney point. I’ve said fir a long while it’s an ideal food source for big sharks.
Me too. I agree. That's why the Orcas have been seen there.
@@johnpollitt4456 other whale turn up here too. Lots of fish that shouldn’t be here are here at times, if you know you know.
There were recent instances of seals attacked by what they think were Greenland sharks too back when the wind farm off Wells was being built.
Love your videos. Bloke I work with is from Devon and said it's pretty much common knowledge in the coastal communities that Whites are out there. My dad use to work that way also and the fishermen said they see them from time to time.
I fully believe it. they've got to be there
I was in St Ives a few years back, in s surf/clothing shop and the dude behind the counter was talking with another couple of older local dudes. It was around the time of one of the national tabloid UK whits shark sighting stories they like to run every few summers and the dudes were laughing about it. They were saying that local water users have known that whites are in the waters for years and found it amusing that it was front page news. UK water conditions are generally perfect for whites and seal populations are plentiful so the better question is, why would they not be here?
@@ftgoggi4715 because they like warm water British sea is freezing lol
@@theyliebutwhy8101 Wouldn't disagree, water here is too cold for me lol but not too cold for white sharks. Their distribution is pretty much global, they're fine with Alaskan water temperatures so I'm pretty sure they'd be fine with those of the UK 👍
@@theyliebutwhy8101 White sharks are found across a wide range of temperatures. White sharks frequent a lot of places with cold water at least part of the year, such as Australia, South Africa, California, Cape Cod, New Zealand, Canada, and even Alaska. Are you claiming Britain has colder waters than Canada and Alaska? Fact is, British water temperatures for half the year are right in the same range as a lot of other white shark hot spots. There is no reason at all why white sharks wouldn’t be in British waters, which is why I suspect they are.
Great channel!
Try teaming up with Graham Pullen of TA Fishing - he’s convinced they are here and he holds the U.K. rod and line record for Porbeagle and Thresher Shark - he’s been out trying to catch them in the South Coast.
Best of luck and may your secret chum bring them in!
Thanks 3Wolves’ yes I’ve sent him a message a while back but not sure how frequently he reads comments etc
I’d just keep trying or getting in touch with him he’s a great fisherman and loves his shark be a great crossover
@@AirbornePirates I hope they are not going to be caught. Sharks populations are getting hammered and are vitally important in the marine ecosystem. Great Whites are protected in NZ.
@@AirbornePirates do you have an email ?
Searched your channel on the hopes for a new video and BOOM!!! Thanks for the continued great content mate
I love your video, theyre so entertaining. Keep at it, they make my day. Thank you
Outstanding video again Matt. This is so interesting and fun to watch I'm off to watch the next one. Cheers for sharing buddy
What a great channel! Can't believe I've only just found this! Been fascinated by Great Whites for as long as I can remember, the concept of them in these waters is very exciting for me and these accounts certainly seem credible 👍🦈 keep up the good work 👌
I've been utterly convinced that Great White sharks visit UK waters ever since at the age of 14
I got into a three way debate between me a know- it-all in class and our Geography teacher way back in 1976. I spoke up saying killer sharks existed in UK waters while know-it-all piped up 'we only get Basking Sharks ..' Then the Geography teacher said " Actually, he's right ! There's sharks coming up from the Gulf of Mexico such as Makos, Tigers and probably Great Whites but the reason there been no confirmed sightings is the fact they're about 2-3 miles off the coast " 1976 was known for its blistering hot summer, leading to warmer than usual sea temperatures so my Geography teacher may well have been right. And im sure UK waters could support a few Great Whites coming up from the Gulf of Mexico or even the Bay of Biscay where they've been definitely spotted.
Just come across your channel mate, just talking about an expedition for sharks has me excited and I'm just watching you. They're an amazing animal and yet one we know very little about still. I'll keep watching.
I saw what I believe was a Great White while fishing off Downpatrick head cliff in county Mayo Ireland. I distinctly saw its full profile leap out of water full body in air. It was at least 20 foot long. There were seals and seal cubs in the water at that time also. Everything about its profile size and fins and behaviour leads me to conclude it was a Great White.
Wow.
I want to come on the expedition! I have absolutely zero experience with anything to do with the sea 😂 but I’ve always beloved GW sharks live in our waters , my family laughed at me for
Years so I’d love for you to prove this ! Love the channel keep up the good work 🥰
Excellent channel!! I love people with passion. Great work,got yourself a fan. Cheers from Poland 🤘❤️
Excellent vid mate, love the idea of these top predators being in uk waters. Think maybe looking for protection status for the white shark in our waters, would be a good idea
If we confirm them here then that will be number one priority cheers Phil
fabulous series of videos from a very knowledgeable enthusiast great work keep them coming👍🏻
Another amazing video,keep doin wat u do👍leave us all in suspense till the next one😆😆👍
You need John fish locker involved he's ace and from Cornwall, very interested to know if the sharks moving in 👍
Love your videos and enthusiasm. Truly hope you go on your expedition, keep up your great work 🦈🏴💗
Some good shots of the Isle of Man. I’ve fished a lot of the spots your standing at!!! 🇮🇲🇮🇲🇮🇲
Cheers Yesir!
Absolutely love this channel . Can’t wait for the next episode . Unfortunately based in Slovakia now but would love travel round the Uk after a glimpse of one . keep the vids coming mate .
I've been fascinated by sharks all my life since watching Jacques Cousteau's superb films. To me, the notion that the Great White is a warm water species is a complete myth. The prevailing currents around the southern cape of South Africa come northwards from the Antarctic; that is a cold current. Wherever you have colonies of seals, I have no doubt you will find the Great White. So it would not surprise me if you manage to see them stalking the seal colonies in Scotland's coastal waters. By the way, you will also be able to see Orcas around Shetland in the summer months. I hope you manage to get your proposed expedition off the ground and I wish you luck with it.
we have them in new zealands even in the sub antartic islands where there seals there is sharks
I always thought the myth was that they preferred cold water. In truth, they don’t really seem to care as long as there’s an abundant supply of seals, tuna, dolphins, or whale calves. They’ve been seen more often in the Gulf of Mexico (which is like bath water in the summer), but they’ve also been seen in Alaska and Nova Scotia. We now know they spend some time in Hawaii, which was always thought to be tiger shark territory. They were abundant in the Caribbean before the Spanish killed off all the monk seals. They even used to hang out in the Bosporus waiting on migrating tuna.
Fantastic video. Nice to see someone make a video about our Great White Sharks ( if they are here ) in the U.K. who clearly has a genuine scientific and common sense approach and is not just scaremongering.
I live in Cornwall and, though I’ve never been out on a boat here, I have often seen basking sharks from the coast path when I’m walking the dog. I now wonder if all was as it seems. Good luck with the expedition if you get to do it.
The question isn’t “Are they here?”, it’s more “Why wouldn’t they be here?” As you say the conditions are perfect.
Thanks Mark’ couldn’t agree more! I’m fairly confident the expedition will go
If there's a good sighting around this islands my money is on NW Ireland. We have a good amount of Porbeagle, blue etc etc but we also have like Scotland massive seal colonies. However back in the 90s a seal was found with a big bite radius and it was triangular teeth that made it apparently. A big shark had been seen around the same time around the seal island. There's a good few stories of large sharks from fishing boats and shore anglers too...although fishermen can be prone to a touch of exaggeration possibly :-) Since then the whole area has become a surfers paradise with many coming from around the world for the massive Atlantic waves. If Whitey is around it may only be a matter of time before he makes himself known.
I’ve spent some time in the seas off Northern Ireland! Fantastic place
Ok
Norden Ireland, s’shit’ole.
I remember seeing a few basking sharks breach the water on Achill Island on the West coast of Ireland. At the time there was a seal nearby & the seal ran for the shore as fast as it could.
The seal must have experience with great whites to have behaved like that.
Breifne555 it’s counting down the days. Not long left now.
Only found your channel a week , its fantastic ! i lived in Brisbane for three years , just before moving back to the UK , i had my last fishing trip with a family member just of Southport ( Gold Coast) i hooked a snapper ( boy they put up a fight !) a few meters from the boat and bang ! something big and grey took my catch , line an all including my heavy duty trace ffs
I understand the shock and concern. We have bull sharks in our Mississippi River. I love sharks. After 3 close calls, I learned GREAT respect for them.
Outstanding stuff again man 👏👏👏
Only found your channel like a month ago, but oh boy the vids in this series are keenly waited for! I genuinely think they do visit our waters and they are here, but (im so far from an expert) i think theyre extremely widely dispersed, so there might be 5 or 6 of them around the uk at any one time, but with so much water to cover no ones managed to film one or get an absolutely i dislutable pic! Also im aware it varies regionally, but a lot of beaches ive been to are very steeply shelved into rapidly deep water, and although im sure whites are fearless, i think they're wary of getting close to shore in most places, and especially on the atlantic side, even if they are close to the surface, even from the air the murky water would make them next to invisible. I genuinely hope you're the one to catch them on film in our waters one day, and i honestly think you will, BUT im sure you're aware its a mammoth task, and may take yearz and years of searching, you may of already been close to one and never even knew! Eitherway, as i said i eagerly await your vids on this series, and wish you the best!
EDIT: on the subject of seals, on the south coast, ignoring cornwall, through the english channel from the dorset coast east, there is only ONE colony of seals,pilot and harbour seals, which live in chichester harbour, and haul out on the sand banks off thorney island at low tide, ive seen them a few times and its a very very rare sight in sussex... but theres about 30 of them, and could be a small food source for a single shark, but due to the shipping in that area, i doubt its likely! I guess my point is, the central south coast has only 1 region with a food source for a white, and my best guess is if you were gonna see one there, itd be off the coast from east of langstone harbour, to bracklesham bay area
Good job Yessir, watching from Abu dhabi it great to see some of the rock to remind me I need go home soon.
Great vid mate 👌🏻 jeez so many potential sightings in Scotland 😱 like you say I think I think the best place to start is around Scotland. Most sightings seem to come from there. If funds are needed for a voyage you could set up a go fund me. I’m sure plenty of people would happily give what they could to help fund an expedition 👍🏻
Cheers Calum, once I know what we need to make it a success I’ll start looking to fund it one way or another 😬👍
@@AirbornePirates no worries mate. Yeah definitely,a lot of British experts would be keen I reckon 🙌🏻
Great video (as always) interesting about the Salmon shark found in UK waters when they are normally in N. Pacific waters! I've heard about the Blue Fox incident before & it sounds very, very credible indeed along with the Summer Isles (Ullapool) encounter. I was lucky enough to snorkel alongside a Basking Shark a few weeks ago which was totally amazing & the best snorkel of my life. Keep doing these videos, I love 'em!
Wow awesome sightings great video !!! I swam next to a basking shark when i was a kid in scotlsnd i do believe that if orca then gr8 white too especially in hotter weather in summer prob near seal colonies 🦈🦈🦈
Why have I only just found your channel??? Brilliant content pal, really enjoying your shark videos 👍🏼
Good luck pal, hope you get your expedition underway and it is a great success!
I seriously hope somebody from Sharkweek watches this and supports your quest !
That picture of the landed Mako shark blew my mind.
Great vid pls do the expedition I’m convinced there’s great whites out there in our waters much love 🏴
Great video! Not surprised the sightings in Scotland were in clusters though, sounds like a great white passing through. I’ve noted that the ‘disappearance’ of great whites from South Africa is being blamed on a pod of orcas moving in, as they prey on great whites. With there being a resident pod of orcas in Scotland I’m not sure it would be the best place to look for great whites, but I’m no expert. Somewhere where there’s a large seal population but no orcas might be a safer bet, such as the Welsh coast or the Northumberland coast. Fantastic video anyway, thank you😀
Not all killer whales hunt sharks. Every killer whale population specializes in different prey groups. The two species overlap in many of the white shark’s hot spots, and yet the white shark population is growing in most of them.
Thank you so much.
I love this series.
I share all of them on Twitter.
Also thank you for promoting how important the conservation of all sharks is critical.
You ever need a hand I'm in...
And for the record
I do believe they are here,
Always have done.
Also there is a great proliferation of Great White Shark's in Canada, primarily,
Grand Banks Nova Scotia.
Great salmon = seals= sharks.
And as you state Great Whites are endothermic so water temperatures don't bother them.
Check where Ocearch are at the moment.
#SaveSharks
And keep up the great work.
Thanks again.
This is mega! Thank you for sharing!
Great videos. Keep up the good work
Great video as always👍
Amazing video, if I was you i would be sick with excitement, I absolutely love great white sharks or any sharks thinking about it; These videos are absolutely amazing.
My father had a great story about a shark encounter, he was a diver for Grampian police in the 80s and 90s and they used to do lots of training ,1 time they were training over on the west coast of scotland couple of teams with Ribs,they have 2 divers in water at a decompression stop when somebody in 1 of the ribs sees a shark fin coming towards them , it then cruised right by them watched by everyone in the boats ,it was then decided between them that it was a great white whereupon someone says “what about the divers in the water “ it was then decided DONT TELL THE DIVERS reason being if you tell the divers they are down there with a great white they will come shooting out the water like a torpedo and then you will have 2 divers with the bends , they only told them once they got them out the water 😂
Likely to be an orca
@@alf345sheesh4 Killer whales don’t resemble white sharks at all. These people said they saw it close up and it was a shark. They might have mistaken a basking or porbeagle/mako shark for a white shark, but definitely not a killer.
😅99😅😅😅😅9
😅😅😅9😅😅😅😅😅9😅😅😅😅
Hey. Greetings from Scotland. Love love love ur show. I am obsessed with great whites. I would be over the moon to see one in British waters. I believe the stories. They are so beautiful and fascinating . Keep the info coming 👍🦈
Thanks Sharon! Me too! Thank you for watching 🏴
The vids good but I’m here for you, such a character keep it up 👍
Cheers Kano! Legend
Very interesting stuff....thanks for blessing us with it
Had no idea there have been sightings up here in Scotland ! Great video 👍👋🏴
Fantastic to see you giving this topic more exposure and you are doing a cracking job. I am familiar with the sightings you covered through having read Richard Peirce’s books and the credibility of the Blue Fox and Ullapool sightings in particular, have always fascinated me because of the credentials of the witnesses. Peirce believes they are occasional visitors to our shores and that feels about right to me. On NZ, there are several ‘incidents’ from the 1960’s attributed to White Sharks (look at GSAF) so it is weird they didn’t acknowledge their existence there until the 1970’s. With more people than ever using the waters around the UK for recreation etc and with phones and drones increasingly prevalent, it is surely only a matter of time before we get the proof they visit these shores and so I very much hope your proposed expedition comes to fruition. Good luck.
Cheers Tony, yes the Blue Fox and Ullapool stand out as the most likely for me, along with the Pentland firth photo.
2003 was a heatwave year so ocean temps round the west coast of Scotland would have been pleasant, September west coast water is at its warmest add in fish farms with a lot of fish urine and waste occasionally blood from salmon harvest and wild salmon runs and seals attracted also to all that lot there's a lot to attract large predators into the area.
Love these videos.
I think Donna nook where I live has the largest grey seal colony I heard stories of seals washing up with heads bitten off people said it would have been makos 🤷🏻♂️. I would love to go on an expedition with you around Britain looking for great whites. Brilliant informative channel.
Me too
Would have to be a big ass mako...like 10+ feet.
@@bluemarlin8138 don’t know of any other large predators around here. I’ve seen the headless seals but not what’s doing it.
Great video buddy...I for one have always been intrigued by Great White sharks and if they are or ever have been in our waters..Everytime I swim off our beaches I'm thinking of them!!...Lol...I do believe that most sightings are large Porbeagles or are they???...I hope you can do the 2022 Shark hunt and will await the results with baited breath...Best of luck guys...😁😁🦈🦈🦈
I'm totally convinced we have Great Whites visiting the UK.
I saw a very large shark twice in one week (it was almost certainly the same one) at Dawlish back around 2000, in August.
The first time was near the stone jetty by the beach (really close to the beach). I was standing near the end of the jetty, and there were dolphins breaching a couple of hundred metres or so out in the bay. I saw the dorsal and tail fin, approximately 8-9 feet apart, and it was moving slowing closer towards the shore - in pretty shallow water. The dorsal was tall, triangular and a drab grey in colour. I didn't get a long look at the fish (maybe 10 seconds or so) and I'm no expert. It suddenly turned really quickly and darted off towards deeper water showing a clearly white underside. Two of us saw it, and reported it to the tourist information office, where a guy was reporting seeing a Thresher shark the day before at Torquay. They advised me to report it to an Ocean wildlife research team who were working over at Ladram Bay, where I was shown some dorsal fin photos, and the one that I picked was a Great White, though it wasn't identified as that on the photo, so I didn't know what I was selecting, just the shape of the fin. They asked if I could drop in to see a colleague at the Sealife Centre at Weston-super-Mare, and he confirmed that what we'd seen was almost certainly a Great White.
A week later I was there again with a friend, and just after we'd arrived, we saw a very large shark breach right in front of us maybe 100 metres out. We both stood there open mouthed, and I turned to my mate and said "Did we just see that?" He said "That looked like a Great White". It was massive. Mostly what we saw from our angle was the underside, which was white and it had a crescent shaped mouth - definitely no basking shark. The side we saw was grey rather than blue. We were beach fishing there for the entire day, but didn't see it again. We have talked about it many times over the years, and have never doubted what we saw.
I lived on Sanday, Orkney in the mid 80s. I used to surf there, Sanday has some excellent waves. There were lots of seals and sometimes some would surf waves with me, my only companions in the water! A neighbour told me Killer Whales came annually to cull the seal pups, however it never even occurred to me there could be sharks around. Anyway it wouldn't put me off surfing there though I might keep an extra eye out for a dorsal fin! Paddle for the beach...
Thank you for another great video. I can’t imagine them not being here. Our waters are perfect for them in every single way. I believe they were only confirmed in New Zealand in the 70’s, and have recently been found off Russia’s pacific coast. It’s just a matter of time until we have a confirmed sighting.
there awsome animals there not top of the food chain there on the menu for orca
New Zealand isn't a great comparison. They've always been there, it's just that NZ's population and area is small and they were rarely noticed. Here in Australia they're routinely sighted and on average kill 1-2 people a year.
@@YortOKThe UKs coastline is tiny also ?
I watched another of ur vids last night and mentioned that I’d heard of tiger shark sightings on the SW coast of Scotland, where im from, after watching great white sightings in British waters and u mention the seal kills and that where the great whites would go… we have an island called the lady isle which is a seal haven. We’ve had orca sightings lately and a lot of dolphins and whales. More than usual. The lady isle is kinda inbetween Saltcoats and the island of Arran if u wanna check it out.
I will definately be visiting Lady Isle with some chum in the expedition, thanks James!
Wicked channel. Love the sea love sharks but swimming in these murky British waters you got some properly Isle o Man size balls
I live in Australia and have seen a few when fishing and once when surfing. They are very distinctive could Mabey mistake a Mako for one but in the UK can't think of many that would be easily mistaken for a white.
Every time I have seen one in a boat they have come up to the boat every time, they seem to be curious.
We get mako sharks in British waters as well as basking sharks; both species could easily be mistaken for a white pointer to the untrained eye.
@@feliscorax the thing with Makos is I never see them cruising they always look like they have ADD. Never seen a basking shark though
This is so good!
Thanks Lydia 😬
Although I didn't report this sighting so make of it what you will, myself and two other couples who were walking their dog's saw and heard a lot of thrashing in the water off the coastline near Hartland point. ( N. Devon) We watched for about a minute or so......a seal being pursued by a monster shark. This fish was big......I couldn't give an approximate size but the seal looked at least a quarter of the size. There was so much thrashing in the water that I couldn't be more specific in detail. The fish obviously expended a lot of energy and gave up as the seal made a bee line to the rocks. We stood there for at half an hour hoping to see it again but it disappeared in the choppy water.
This happened year's back.....about 1995/ 96 ?
I've never really mentioned it before until I just saw your video.
Hi dean, very much sounds as though a mako / porbeagle or white shark was having a pop at the seal . Thanks for sharing.
I have just seen your channel pop up on my Google news feed. (Hopefully that's a great start for you getting your crew together) I definitely hope you're successful with that. I'm sure you will be! I am totally obsessed with sharks! Especially the Great White. My auntie and uncle and 2 cousins live in Cape Town south Africa where I would love to go one day and go out and see them in their natural habitat! (Well if there's any still down there..) My cousin came over to England and told us an amazing story about Great Whites... but I won't go on. But if anyone wants to know please ask. Good luck with everything and in the meantime please keep posting!! Excellent!!! 🦈
It is also very interesting regarding tagged great white sharks behaviour. One was obeserved in California killing a seal. The shark bite once and then went away, to let the seal bleed and then consumed it. The same shark was breaching in Shark Bay, South Africa over one year later, and it was leaving its natural enviroment totally. It attacked a "fake" seal, leaving the water totally, and it was estimated to be around 5 meters. And this was around 10-15 years ago. I still have it on VHS.
Love your videos! I'm in Australia but love hearing about UK shark sightings. I believe they are already there in the UK! Lots of prey, safe from predators and water temperature perfect. Look into Tasmania, it's not known for its sharks BUT there has been today incidents involving massive Great white's. I think they use the safer water for giving birth. Like UK and Tassie. That's why you get sightings of big one's!
I'm sure I remember reading about sightings of huge whites in Tasmanian waters? Wasn't it also of the coast of Taz where that lad got plucked from a boat by a white not too long ago?
@@ftgoggi4715 yes my friend, a white jumped out the water and pulled a boy into the sea, totally unheard off! The Dad jumped into the water and rescued the boy. Few vids on you tube. UK waters similar temp, think Bournemouth water is warmer in the summer months..
You could drive up to Scotland and ask the seals have they seen one. Get a huge great white cut out photo and present it up to them and see there reaction!!
🤣🤣🤣
Yea lad !! Sweet video mate and smashing the views 👌👌
Thanks mate!! My next wild camp is pretty good, uploading next week! 😬
@@AirbornePirates epic mate look foreword to it 👊👊
Really interesting stuff - I too believe there is no reason why Great Whites shouldn't inhabit our waters, albeit on a purely transient basis e.g. quick stop off to feed whilst en-route to wherever! I am not a marine biologist, although I did touch on marine biology and oceanography when studying for a Biology degree. I am aware of the influence of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift on the movement of marine life and often wondered if this would explain why these sightings seem to occur sporadically rather than on a regular basis. I also wonder how events such as the 2004 Tsunami (and more recent happenings) influence the overall balance of the oceans and if this again can throw the marine ecosystems out of kilter for a short time and result in the 'clusters' of appearances of what are/were believed to be Great Whites around the coast of the UK.
Loving the videos keep them coming, here in Northern Ireland and they have to here there was a shark expert recently said Donegal and the west coast was the ideal environment for them
Thanks Stephen, don’t suppose you know his name? Could attempt to get him onboard
@@AirbornePirates when I saw a Great White last year off Downpatrick head cliff I reported the sighting to Dr Ken Collins
Senior Research Fellow & Diving Officer, Ocean and Earth Science, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences University of Southampton
National Oceanography Centre UK. You could talk to him I'm sure.
I grew up in Jamaica, I love sea swimming, snorkelling, fishing with hand lines. Jamaican waters are very safe. Almost all the best swimming/tourist area beaches are reef protected, high tide 3 feet or less atop most reefs, which are anything between 2-4 hundred yards from water's edge. If memory serves me right there have been no more than 3 fatal attacks in the last 200+ years, and one of those a Darwin Award medal, first class. Guy was spearfishing outside the reef (can be 1,000 + feet !), and stringing the kills on a wire loop through his belt! Talk about tempting fate! Heck, I won't spearfish, period. Not long after learning to swim, I came up with my own few simple rules for safety when swimming; I 'skinny dip' only in the bath; I NEVER swim in the sea at dusk, in the night, or very early a.m. Was so pleased to recently discover that those simple 'rules' I've applied since age 12 are ex actly(!) what Florida residents (non Darwin Award aspirants) advise all visitors to observe.
Absolutely excellent video. I would be very interested to help in any way in your future expeditions, I am a qualified Paddi Diver to Rescue level. Also have limited accomodation available for free in the Dumfries area of Scotland should this be needed. It would be a dream realised to witness the ultimate predator in our waters. Thanks in anticipation, Dave.
That’s fantastic Dave!! See you in Scotland next year then! 😬😬😬
@@AirbornePirates count me in, look forward to hearing from you in readiness for next year!
@@davidrobbins9401 I’d we get a few favours and a bit of sponsorship it will be great, obviously I’d document the entire thing
@@AirbornePirates if we could charter a boat and captain for a few days split cost if charter with a feww of us.
Gonna need a BIGGER boat
Your videos are really well put together! Keep it up mate🤝
Liked and subscribed, amazing content man :)
Cracking vid , hope I never see one while paddling at west kirby tho 😂.
Very informative 👍👍👍
As always fabulous film ole bean.
Took a holiday to plymouth in 2003 and went to the aquarium there.
met a marine biologist and said to her "when are you going to get a white shark " she said "we cant because we have not got a tank big enough.
I replied "well i have heard they are in our waters", her reply excited me when she said "yes they are , they are about 40 miles off the north devon coast and we go out to see them"!!!
Great viewing thanks
Great video, there was some very definite sightings in the Solent if you search it up
I have no doubt that Great White's are an occasional visitor to our waters as we do have the right conditions at least some of the time. We really need to start getting photographic/video evidence though. Really nicely done video though mate, well done.
nice stuff. ex surfer...plenty of shark encounters over 45 years in the water. Hawaii, Florida North Carolina California Baja Mexico Costa Rica, Nicaragua Australia Bali lombok Jawa Sumatra
You're right, we need a proper task force set up to study the waters around the UK for great white shark activity. I'm fairly sure at some point they must have been close to our shores. It would be fantastic to get that confirmed. I hope you get the chance to get a team together. Sounds fun!
there great for tourism shark diveing is big business i know here in new zealand there protected speicies i hope you have them there a special shark
@@jenifferschmitz8618 thanks for the reply. Yes, very true. Let's hope we find some in UK waters!
I love sharks so much! It's my dream to dive with them 🤩
great vid again mate
You need to expedition in the channel Islands, we have a decent seal count around the ecrehoes and the minquies, should chat with Tony heart from the boat Anna 2, I'm sure he could shed some light, I'm adamant that they pass our Islands, we have a decent amount of blue fin tuna, seals and school shoals around our coast, and water temperature is good for them.
You know i'm like 49 years of age now,i was brought up with fish,weather they be marine or fresh water, my Dad always had tanks and i got my first tank as a 10yr old,i consider myself to have taken fish keeping to the next level if you like,it wouldn't surprise me at all if great whites were in our waters at all.
Another great video. 👍 good work lad