32ft shark spotted swimming just metres off Ayrshire coast

Carla Smith, 20, spotted the basking shark a mere 35 metres off Lendalfoot Beach near the town of Girvan.

After spotting a fin on the horizon with her binoculars, her boyfriend Andy Milae, 20, used his drone to identify the stunning marine animal, on Tuesday (July 30).

Carla and Andy, from Troon, took to the water on their paddleboards and accidentally came across the shark, remaining still as it drifted passed them calmly. 

Paddleboarders spot '10m' shark just metres off the Ayrshire coast

Carla, who is a student from Rutherglen near Glasgow, said: “You could see the fin on the horizon.

“People started shouting: 'There is a shark in the water!'

She added: "We still thought it was maybe a dolphin and it was only once we had the drone that we knew.”

The stunning footage they captured of the animal settled the nerves of tourists on the beach when they realised it was a basking shark.

Carla said: “They don’t eat people, which was a relief.”

Basking sharks are normally seen in the summer months in the UK (Image: Carla Smith/SWNS)

Basking sharks migrate to Ayrshire and Scotland in the summer months to feed on the abundance of plankton. They later return to southerly sub-tropics in the colder seasons.

Basking sharks can reach up to 12m in length and weigh some six tonnes, making them the largest shark you can find in British waters.

Carla described the experience as 'cool' (Image: Carla Smith/SWNS)

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It is the second largest fish in the world, behind the whale shark.

Discussing her experience with the sighting, Carla said: “It swam underneath us which was so cool.”

Peak shark-spotting season in the UK is from June to September with spots around Argyll and Bute as well as Ayrshire being among the best places to see them.