'Crocodiles' spotted near Scarborough off the Yorkshire Coast, claims holidaymaker in footage

Sheffield holidaymakers who were planning an autumnal dip near to Scarborough might find the water nippy – for more reasons than one.

Various creatures have been spotted of the Yorkshire Coast in the past decade – such as a pod of 80 Mike whales in Staithes, albatross at Bempton Cliffs and dolphins in Scarborough.

Now, a new clip – published by The Scarborough Times – appears to show two ‘crocodiles’ just off the coastline at Blue Dolphin Caravan Park, between Filey and Cayton Bay.

Holidaymaker Sarah Craven filmed the shocking sight whilst out on a walk with her family.

Miss Craven said: “We took the boys up for a walk on the cliff top when we saw some dolphins jumping in the background.

“Suddenly, my son shouted ‘crocodiles!’. We all looked down and there in front of me were what I thought were two large crocodiles.

“We moved further along the cliff to get a closer look and I started to take pictures and videos.

“If a closer look is taken you can see the back legs swimming. I saw both front legs and back legs with long pointy tails swishing behind, the skin looked bumpy like crocodile or alligator skin.

“We then noticed a smaller one in between the large ones.”

The Craven family were visiting Scarborough last weekend and were camping towards the top of the fields at Blue Dolphin Caravan Park, and had walked down the road to the cliff tops.

Miss Craven posted the video to Facebook, which caused a commotion online - with many questioning the supposed sighting.

Dr Angela Julian, Co-ordinator at Amphibian and Reptile Groups UK, said: “It is extremely unlikely that she has spotted actual living crocodiles in the North Sea - lovely as the idea sounds.

“Generally they are a tropical riverine or lake taxa and we definitely don’t have any native.

“Therefore the possibilities are either that they have been dumped in which case they will not survive for long, or they are plastic ones - which often happens.

“They could be other marine creatures including walrus or turtles, or floating debris.”