The shark that was found in the garden in Whitstable, Kent, late last week (Picture: SWNS)

A father and son have expressed their shock after finding a shark in their back garden which fell from the sky while they were having a cup of tea.

James and Colin Hill found the shark in their back garden in Whitstable, Kent, at lunchtime on Thursday.

Colin, 59, saw the fish land in the garden so went through to the kitchen to tell his son, James, 26, about what he’d just witnessed.

However, rather than an actual sharknado they believe it may have been dropped by a seagull who bit off more than it could chew.


James, an engineer and part-time coastguard, said: ‘I had been making a cup of tea in the kitchen when my dad came in looking a bit perplexed.

James said that the shark was in pretty good condition and measured about 2ft (Picture: SWNS

They believe that the shark may have been dropped by a seagull as it flew overhead (Picture: SWNS)

‘He said to me: “what’s the British shark commonly found in the UK – the shark that is two foot long and has a slopey nose? Because there’s one in the back garden”.



‘I was really shocked. My feet are size ten so this beast is a good two foot long. The fella was still in pretty good condition but had been dead for a couple of days.

‘I prodded it for a bit before carrying on with the day. It’s just the silliest thing to try and explain to someone: ‘Oh yeah, I was making a cup of tea and a shark fell from the sky into my garden.

‘Luckily it’s only a smaller species. I think it has been picked up by an ambitious cormorant who has dropped it

The father and son were perplexed as to how it landed their at first (Picture: SWNS)

‘The birds neck probably hurt or it has been hassled by gulls and let go.’

The small-spotted catfish are small, shallow-water sharks with a slender body, a blunt head and sandpaper-like skin.

Its two dorsal fins are located at the tail end of the body and crustaceans, mollusks and fish are their main prey.

The species is common across the globe, residing off the coasts of Norway, the British Isles south to Senegal and in the Mediterranean.