There was great surprise and excitement on Largs bay on Thursday evening after the sighting of a humpback whale on the seafront.

Largs resident Archie Burleigh was one of the lucky eye-witnesses to such a rare event, and said: "I noticed a large crowd had gathered on the Calmac Pier so decided after my late beverage to take a 'dauner' along in the car with my boy to have a look.

"We parked at the Green Shutter in Fort Street and low and behold a whale breeched some 250 yards off shore to the south-west: Just off the War Memorial.

"Had the big field 'glasses' with me so managed a good look at the detail on the magnificent creatures as they surfaced. It would appear from the dorsals that there were at least two mature whales of the Humpback variety. One female and the other male. There was a distinct difference between their indiviual dorsals.

"It was also apparent that the whales were feeding as there was an abundnce of seabirds tracking their movements and in turn feeding on the surface at each breech location.

"The food source could be confirmed as fry of some kind as where we were standing on the 'rip rap' at the Green Shutter, the surface of the Firth was boiling with small fish. As the tide was starting to ebb the whales moved off southwards after a short double back in a northerly direction."

"It was the first time that I have seen whales in this part of the Clyde since 1962 when as a young lad I recall a school of some thirty pilot whales swimming off the Largs pier during a windy late summer afternoon."

A new Clyde mammals sightings website and Facebook page is now afloat to keep abreast of all porpoises, basking sharks and other marine life spotted within the sea. See here