THE LUNAN Bay area was the scene of significant activity yesterday evening after concerned members of the public reported seeing what they thought was a whale at risk of becoming stranded on the beach.

The coastguard regional HQ at Crail was alerted shortly before 8pm following reports that a whale had been seen close to shore and observers were concerned it could be in difficulties.

Coastguard units from Montrose and Arbroath attended at the scene, along with police and fire and rescue personnel, who were alerted in case any beached whale required to be kept wet.

The coastguard officers carried out a sweep of the shoreline from the north end of Lunan Bay to the start of the cliffs and found nothing to concern them.

A search of the tidal area was also carried out by the inshore lifeboat Duncan Fergusson from Arbroath RNLI Lifeboat station but, again, nothing untoward was discovered.

Scott Constantine, deputy station officer with HM Coastguard at Montrose said, “We responded to a report initiated by a member of the public who had expressed concerns that a whale might be in danger of beaching.

“However, after carrying out an extensive search, we are satisfied that, if there was indeed a whale close to shore, it managed to swim off.”

“It is known that dolphins and porpoises and occasionally killer whales frequent these waters in search of fish and we can only assume that this is what was seen.”