'Amazement' as whales spotted in Falmouth Bay

• Watch the moment the whales surfaced.

Whales have been spotted breaching waters off the coast of Cornwall.

At least two were seen by people on a boat trip around Falmouth Bay. Wet Wheels, a charity which gives disabled people the chance to go boating, had organised the trip.

David Rogers, from the charity, said he believed the pair were fin whales - which can reach lengths of 80 feet and weigh almost 80 tonnes.

“We’ve seen whales before but never this close. We had a group of autistic young adults onboard accompanied by their families and they were in complete amazement. Totally beyond anything they expected and a first boat trip for one of them too!"

Minke whales are most common in Cornwall, but the numbers of many species are increasing - possibly due to warming seas.

When a whale surfaces, it exhales warm breath, shooting air from a blowhole on top of its head. Whales are mammals and can’t breathe underwater, so they surface to stock up on oxygen.

They travel in numbers called ‘pods’. A pod is roughly made up of two to 30 whales, but multiple pods can join together of up to a few hundred whales during breeding seasons.