Second whale in two days washes up on UK beach as public warned ‘do not approach’

A second whale has washed up onto a UK beach in two days after a carcass was found on a shore in north Wales.

The sighting of the whale on North Neigwl beach on the south coast of the Llyn Peninsula Wales was announced by Abersoch Coastguard Rescue Team on its Facebook on Monday morning (8 May). Experts believe the animal was a young sperm whale.

The rescue team said a “full assessment” and “post mortem” will be carried out on the latest carcass, as it warned people not to approach the whale.

The team said: “At 8:51 this morning we were tasked to a sighting of a beached whale on Porth Neigwl – thanks to Jess and Matt camping at Treheli for the shout. Once located (yes we found it Abersoch RNLI) we directed a team from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (bdmlr.org.uk) to the cliff top who confirmed the whale was dead and currently thought to be a young sperm whale.

“With a full and very high tide preventing any access to the beach a full assessment and post mortem will be carried out later. Please do not attempt to approach the whale as this part of the beach is fully cut off at high tide and any contact will impair the valuable results to be gained from a full autopsy.”

It comes after another whale was found dead on a shore in north Wales just two days before. The dead minke whale was discovered on North Berwick beach in East Lothian on Sunday morning (7 May).

East Lothian Council cordoned off the area and urged people to stay away while arrangements were made to remove the carcass.

In a statement on Facebook, the council said: “Unfortunately, a badly decomposed minke whale has been washed up on North Berwick beach this morning. A cordon will be put in place while arrangements are made to remove it and people are advised to maintain an appropriate distance and to keep dogs away.”

The whale carcass was later lifted into a trailer.

It comes after another minke whale washed up on the same beach on 19 April with workers spending hours removing the nine-tonne carcass.

Further north, a dead humpback whale was also found on a sand bank at Loch Fleet nature reserve in Sutherland on Friday (5 May).

Nick Davison, research associate at the scheme, said initial examinations indicate the creature “died due to entanglement in creel lines”.