Traditionally, the whales move around the western side of Britain but some are now swimming down the east coast and through the Strait of Dover – possibly re-establishing ancestral routes that were abandoned when so many humpbacks were slaughtered by 19th- and 20th-century whale-hunters.

Experts say the sightings could be a positive sign that the humpback whales’ global population of 84,000 mature animals is recovering following the ban on commercial hunting in 1986.