Hundreds of hopeful whale-watchers lined the River Thames at Teddington today as they tried to catch a glimpse of a whale which had moved upriver from Richmond Lock.

TV film crews and a news helicopter were on the scene as the four metre baby minke swam between the Teddington Weir and the river near the Wharf restaurant.

Photographers lined the banks, many with telephoto lenses, trying to capture that elusive image of the emerging fin.

Nub News was on the spot and managed to snap the whale at various positions as it moved up and down the river, surfacing briefly and tantalisingly for onlookers.

The Teddington RNLI crew patrolled the section of the river but admitted it was helpless unless the creature beached in lower depths of the river.

The whale was first seen at 7pm last night near Richmond Weir and Lock where it became trapped on the lock's boat rollers.

A closer view of the whale

It was freed at 1am after a joint operation by the Port of London Authority, the RNLOC, London Fire Brigade and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

The Port London Authority (PLA) told Sky News the whale was freed at 1am after a joint operation by the London Fire Brigade, a Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) crew, and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Early morning witness account said the distressed whale was spotted near Isleworth but by mid-morning the whale was swimming up and down the river at The Wharf restaurant and Teddington Weir.

Teddington's footbridge was jammed with sightseers with mobile phones, binoculars as well as professional photographers.

A Channel Four crew was rumoured to have captured 'fantastic film' of the whale will be shown on the main news at 7pm tonight.