Shark!
Further to the film of the porbeagle shark which was seen swimming alongside Blyth wooden pier, on Monday of this week a person walking his dog on the north side of Newbiggin saw a shoal of mackerel jumping out of the water and literally panicking and suddenly a shark fin appeared among them. I wonder is this was the same shark which was seen a few days earlier at Blyth – or another one. A few years ago, two anglers, one of them being the son of John Laidler the owner of Sports & Leisure Blyth were on the Beacons, Newbiggin at low water and saw something moving in a large pool above the low water mark. When they investigated, they realised that it was a shark, which appeared to be in distress. This fish was between 5 ft and 6 ft long. They decided to try to take it out of the pool and return it to the sea. Unfortunately, before they could do this, it died. I was sent photographs by John (which I still have) and it was identified by the Hancock Museum and myself as a Blue Shark, which is very unusual for the North East coast.
