Beaked Whale

This is one of 3 Beaked Whales that sadly died yesterday on the West Coast of Scotland.

SMASS =Scottish Marine Animals Stranded Scheme arrived today and carried out an Autopsy on the beach.  The organs will be sent for analysis and the skeletons sent to a museum. No idea at the moment what might have happened to them but heavy bruising was apparent on all of them, not sure if this one is male or female but the other two were a definite Mother and Calf.

There is little known about this species as they remain in deep sea most of the time and are therefore difficult to observe and catch sightings of.

It was heart-warming to see tributes of Feathers and Hearts drawn in the sand around the bodies as passers by took in this sad scene.

I asked Pippa to stand a little way behind it to give a bit of size perspective.