Late January 2005

These large egg cases were washed up on the shores of the Orkney Isles, north of mainland Scotland.
The large size of these egg cases means they are almost certainly the egg cases of the endangered Skate, Dipturus batis. Over a hundred egg cases were washed up.
Full Report
Egg Capsules of Rays & Sharks (Link to the Web Pages)
BMLSS Mermaid's Purses

29 September 2004
One of the most extraordinary shark tales involved the discovery of a tropical Oceanic White-tip Shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, that had badly lost its way and was discovered swimming around a warship in a brackish water fjord near Gullmarsfjorden in west Sweden. It died shortly afterwards. The shark, a male, was 230 cm long, (total length), and weighed 65.65 kg. This is the first record in northern European seas and it has never been discovered around the British coast. A Swedish Museum in Gothenburg has now the shark for further examination.

The Oceanic White-tip Shark is found worldwide in epipelagic tropical and subtropical waters between 20° North and 20° South latitude. Its range is from Portugal to the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic. There are a few records from the Mediterranean Sea. It lives in sea temperatures above 21° C. It is usually found over deep water a long way from the shore. It is known to associate with Pilot Whales and may follow boats or ships if a constant food source is available. This shark has a reputation for attacking Man. 

How could the shark have arrived in the fjord? The speculation could involves man's activities as a discard from a deep water fishing catch? 

Further Information
Fishbase entry
BMLSS Sharks
 

July 2004
We discovered a 1.93 metres (6 ft 4 in) long fresh shark washed up dead on the beach between Hornsea and Mappleton on the Yorkshire North East coast.

This shark appears to be a Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus. There is a population of this large predatory shark in the North Sea. Their occurence may match the Salmon on which they prey. Specimens washed up dead on the beach are unusual. 
BMLSS Sharks

31 November 2003
A Cornish long-line fishermen has caught a total 115 Porbeagle Sharks, Lamna nasus, on two long-line fishery trips to their feeding grounds off Cornwall. The largest one weighed 60 kg (132 lb), but is unclear if this was the weight before on after it was gutted. It was two metres long, probably including the tail fin. These look like a pre breeding stock of Porbeagles with females that do not attain maturity until they are two metres in length. This mass capture has raised the ire of environmentalists as the large species of sharks and even some of smaller species like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina, are vulnerable to excessive fishing. In the 1960s the Newfoundland fishery for Porbeagle was seriously overfished as ceased as a commercial activity. Hundreds of Porbeagle Sharks are caught off northern France each year. 
BBC News Report
BMLSS Sharks
 

16 February 2003
A 117 cm pup long of a Bluntnose Sixgill Shark, Hexanchus griseus, was landed at Mevagissey, south Cornwall. The shark weighed 6.3 kg before gutting. The Bluntnose Sixgill Shark is principally a deep water species, usually found offshore and near the bottom at depths of up to 1,800 metres.  Young specimens can however occasionally be found inshore in cold water at depths as shallow as 25 - 50 metres, especially near rocky coasts or islands where deep water occurs close by.
Sixgill Shark pups measure 65 cm - 70 cm at birth and can grow up to at least 4.8 metres (over 15 ft) long. This grey coloured sharks is unusual in that compared with most species of shark, they have an extra pair of gills. Females are thought to have 22 - 108 pups per litter.
Full Report 

23 July 2001
Unidentified Shark
Two divers, one of them a commercial fisherman, came across an unrecognised shark lying stationary on the bottom near Alderney in the Channel Islands. It was over a metre long and it was not any of the common shark species normally found around the islands. 
They looked in the book and came up with unlikely match of the Nurse Shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum. They said the shark remained motionless on the bottom. The body appeared dark grey with no markings.
This tropical species has never been recorded in British seas although Gerald Jennings (Calypso Publications) reports a record from Portugal.

18 July 2001
A large (15 kg) Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca,  caught off Helford, Cornwall was landed at Newlyn. A small (15 cm) Marbled Electric Ray, Torpedo marmorata,  was caught in a crab pot off Freathy, Whitsand Bay, south-east Cornwall. Both fish are quite rare for the south-west.

11 July 2001
A young (1.5 metre long) Thresher Shark found at Gunwalloe Fish Cove, on the Lizard, Cornwall  has been confirmed as a Bigeye Thresher Shark, Alopias superciliosus.  This is the first record of this species from shallow British waters.

November 2000
Bill Chadwick reported a rare deep water shark with the name in the book as the Frilled Shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus. It was landed in Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland, by Michael Flannery, on board the Emerald Dawn (out of Kerry I think). This specimen (one out of 3) was sent to the Museum of Natural History in Dublin for examination.  These animals were caught as part of an on going deep sea survey in search for commercially viable deep water species run by BIM (Board Iasca Mhara). All the information was confirmed by John Hackett of BIM. 

12 August 2000
The sleek lines of 4 Blue Sharks, Prionace glauca, were seen 7 miles off the Bishop's Rock, off the westernmost tip of Cornwall. Fish is thrown overboard to attract Wilson's Petrels and other sea birds and the sharks arrive. 

3 June 2000
A school of 20 to 30 Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, remained in the St. Ives area, Cornwall,  for more than a day.

24 April 2000
Several Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, were seen from the ferry Scillonian on its way from Penzance to the Scilly Isles. On 28 April 2000, a Basking Shark was trapped in Penzance lock until it was released at high tide.

March 2000
The first Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, of the summer was seen in Booby's Bay, Cornwall. The 3 metre plus shark (10-footer) was spotted by Clive James, from the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Last summer the same stretch of coast was the scene of spectacular visits by groups of Basking Sharks.

2 January 2000
Doug Herdson (National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth) spotted a 5 metre long Basking Shark feeding in S. Mounts Bay, SW Cornwall. Basking Sharks are normally only seen in summer and are meant to stop feeding during the winter. 
Other Winter reports can be found on the list collated by Ray Dennis: