mystery fish
© Kevin BainAround 75 of the mystery fish showed up in Mr Bain's garden.
An Aberdeenshire man has asked for help in identifying fish which have appeared outside his house.

Kevin Bain found about 75 small fish in his back garden on Thursday.

He believes their arrival is the result of a waterspout which sucked the animals from the sea and dropped them on his property.

Mr. Bain said he thinks the two-inch fish are sand eels but is trying to find out more.

Mystery fish in garden
© Kevin Bain
Speaking to BBC Scotland, he said: "To start with, I thought the fish had been dropped by birds but there were far too many.

"It has been stormy for the past few nights, so it's possible that a water spout has lifted the fish from the sea during the bad weather.

"It's a really strange phenomenon."

Mr. Bain lives around 500m from the sea in the Aberdeenshire town of Banff.

He shared his discovery on video streaming app Periscope, in the hope someone would shed some light on the appearance of the fish.

Waterspouts, which look similar to tornadoes, begin life as funnel clouds and can occur during heavy rain or thunderstorms.