AS ANYONE WHO’S ever done any wildlife photography will tell you, sometimes there’s just no substitute for being in the right place at the right time.
That’s exactly what happened to Corporal Aidan Murphy of the Irish Air Corps while on patrol above the Celtic Sea off the south west coast on Wednesday.
While peering out through the aircraft and recording the seas, he managed to capture an extremely rare maritime site, that of a fin whale leaping from the water below.
Fin whales are the second largest animals in the world with only its relative the blue whale being longer.
Spotting one is special enough but fin whales come to the surface and breach very rarely so being on hand with a camera to capture it is almost unheard of.
The video shows the whale darting from the water about 10 seconds into the clip in the top left corner of the screen before Murphy focuses the lens on the spot where the massive mammal landed.
Twice more the beautiful creature rises from the surf before giving a short blast of water from its blowhole as if acknowledging the presence of the airmen.
You can view the amazing video in full on the Air Corps’ Facebook page.
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