A wildlife ranger captured amazing footage of an endangered basking shark – as it swam along next to him.

Craig Nisbet, 42, spotted a shark fin in the water and watched the animal swimming around before grabbing his snorkelling gear and camera in the hope of photographing it

The 2m shark swam right next to Craig, but he said he wasn’t scared as he snapped pictures of the young shark at Village Bay on the island of Hirta, Outer Hebrides.

Basking sharks migrate from waters off west Africa to Scotland's west coast where they gather to breed.

Criag, a seabird and marine ranger with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said the shark’s fins and snout were visible from the beach at Village Bay.

Basking sharks are the world's second largest fish, after whale sharks, growing up 10m long.

But despite their size the harmless sharks only feed on plankton which they filter out of the water, swimming slowly back and forth with their mouths wide open.