Rupert Kirkwood, Part­ner at Penbode Veterinary Group, Holsworthy, recently had the wildlife encounter of a lifetime while enjoying a spot of kayaking near Land's End.

He explained: "I saw a fin about half a mile offshore and initially thought it was a dolphin. However as I approached I realised it was the great triangular dorsal fin of a basking shark with the lazily sweeping tail fin breaking the surface about ten foot behind.

"Every so often its blunt nose would break the water giving a total length of over twenty foot, rather dwarfing my fourteen foot kayak."

The shark submerged as he got close and then reappeared directly behind his kayak and passed underneath rubbing its vast back along the hull, seemingly inquisitive. It then returned to feeding/sieving plankton with its cavernous mouth open while cruising along.

"I stuck my waterproof camera beneath the surface and was thrilled to capture the photo that every marine enthusiast dreams of — a picture of its huge gape," said Rupert.

He was alone and felt a bit vulnerable in his narrow kayak but pointed out that basking sharks are very slow and consume a diet exclusively of plankton. "Mind you," he pointed out "if it had sneezed it would have blown me right out of the water!"