The 30-tonne, 15 metre-long migratory giants are being spotted in growing numbers and locations.
Humpback whales have been seen in the eastern English Channel, close to the coast at Deal, Kent, and Eastbourne, Sussex, and along the East Anglian coast. There were 17 sightings of the whales around the Isles of Scilly between 29 December and 8 January this year.
The humpback whales are migrating from their feeding grounds near Tromsø, Norway, to warmer waters around the Cape Verde islands, where they rest and breed.
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.
Others believe that the presence of more whales around Britain’s coasts is because warming waters are causing a more northerly distribution of prey.
All the same, the slap of an enormous tail upon grey waters as a humpback whale leaps from the sea is becoming an increasingly possible - although still rare - natural thrill around Britain. But that's not all...
Once-vanished species are making a comeback in the North Sea on England's east coast, with bottlenose dolphins calving off Yorkshire for the first time in decades and grey seal populations hitting record numbers in Norfolk. The recovery follows increased marine protections and fishing controls, offering hope for one of the world's most heavily exploited marine ecosystems.