Whale fever has gripped a Mearns village as hundreds of people a day are descending on St Cyrus in the hope of catching a glimpse of the large cetacean.
A humpback was as close as 10 metres from the beach at St Cyrus Nature Reserve when it first appeared last Monday.
This week it emerged there may be two whales in the area.
The first whale has been confirmed as one that was at Ythan Estuary near Aberdeen a year ago. It was joined by a second whale shortly afterwards.
There have been several conflicting reports about the number of whales seen – though, so far, two have not been photographed together.
Paul Smith, from British Divers Marine Life Rescue, which has been monitoring the whale, said: “There is so much confusion now if there are one, two, three or even four whales.
“This happened with the whale in the Forth earlier this year as well and it looks like whale fever has struck again.
“People can sometimes see things in the water that might not be a whale – it might be a porpoise. It can be difficult to sift out the truth from the fiction.
“The original whale can come up close. There have been sightings of a second one but further out and it’s difficult to confirm the species.”
St Cyrus Nature Reserve manager Therese Alampo said she had never seen so much excitement in the area before.
She said: “There are hundreds of people coming every day. The car park is constantly full.
“People are arriving in the morning with binoculars, cameras with big lenses, telescopes. It’s lovely community involvement.
“The allure of seeing a giant whale is getting people who wouldn’t normally come to St Cyrus appearing.
“A lot of people who haven’t been to the reserve before are saying how wonderful it is which is really lovely to hear.”
She added: “People are being really responsible. There have been no problems and not much litter left.”
Therese said she felt it was “very likely” there is more than one whale based on reports from whale watchers.
Kelly Ann Dempsey, leader of the coastal and marine working group of the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership, is encouraging people to report sightings on the Marine Life Angus website.
She said: “It’s great seeing so many people at St Cyrus beach but it’s just so unexpected and amazing to see a whale so close.”
Kelly Ann thinks she may have seen the second whale in the water on Monday.
“I definitely saw one that was going up and down the bay at the north end but I thought I saw another one in the distance but I wasn’t sure. Something darker caught my eye further out.”
