Whale sighting in East Sussex confirmed: stunning video footage shows ‘magnificent animal’ near coast

The video, taken by Ricky Martin, showed what appeared to be a large animal breaking the surface of the water and making a big splash.

The footage was taken at 2.35pm on Friday, January 3.

Ricky said: “Walking along the sea front and seeing this amazing Whale. This isn’t something I’ve ever seen before. Was just a wonderful thing to experience. I just grabbed my phone quick a captured this video. I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.”

The Sussex Dolphin Project was contacted for comment. Director Thea Taylor said on Saturday, January 4: “We can confirm that the whale spotted off Hastings yesterday was a humpback whale. Sightings of humpback whales off Sussex are rare, with only one or two being sighted every year, usually around this time. We have had three sightings since December, two of which have been breaching and putting on a show! We log all sightings in our database, and we hope to increase our research on these magnificent animals in the future.”

The Sussex Dolphin Project said on their website: “The Sussex coastline is one of the most poorly studied cetacean habitats (whales, dolphins and porpoises) in England. Yet recently, we have been getting more and more sightings reported to us.”