How did a 33ft whale end up in the middle of a field in East Yorkshire?

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Stranded: The 33ft whale was found beached 800 yards from the shoreline of the Humber Estuary

A young whale died after an exceptionally high equinox tide carried it 800 yards from the shoreline to a salt marsh where it then became stranded.

The 33ft mammal, thought to be a Sei whale, was discovered in marshes on the north bank of the River Humber near the village of Skeffling.

As the tide retreated the whale became stranded before rolling over onto its blowhole, causing it to suffocate. The highest tides of the year occur after the spring and autumn equinox.


Mysterious: Experts are baffled by the beached whales, as this one, like others, are from species not normally stranded on the British coast

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has since carried out a post-mortem examination on the mammal with the British Zoological Society. Experts who examined the animal said they are 95 per cent certain it is a female Sei whale and say it could simply have been looking for food when the tide turned.

The trust's Kirsten Smith said: 'With the high tide the whale probably got carried up on to the salt marsh, got pushed further in shore and then got stuck when the tide went out.


Andy Gibson from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust examines the young female whale on the banks of the Humber Estuary

source: dailymail