10:23am Saturday 19th September 2009
GILBERT the whale put on a spectacular display off Bournemouth beach on Friday and appears to have developed a pattern to his behaviour.
The northern bottlenose, who has been off shore since last Sunday, appears to be sticking to a triangle between Bournemouth beach, Branksome Dene Chine, and a black and yellow triangular marker buoy.
Members of British Divers Marine Life Rescue will investigate on Saturday to see if there is a food source in the water but retreat if the nine metre long cetacean approaches.
Driver Trevor Weekes said that at around 5pm on Friday, and on Thursday evening, Gilbert put on displays up to 15 minutes long of tail flapping and surface breaching.
He said: “The behaviour can mean different things in different contexts but we think it is a positive sign that it is feeding.”
Mr Weekes said he was pleased most people apart from a couple of boats had followed requests to stay away, adding: “If we got lots of people in boats near it over the weekend it could lead to the whale’s death.”
The whale was nicknamed Gilbert after an RNLI lifeguard who took the first picture.
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4638510.Gilbert_has_a_whale_of_a_time/
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