Beached whale found in a field in Yorkshire

Conservationists and experts believe the whale, a female, died after it beached in the Humber Estuary. The whale is thought to be of a species rarely found stranded on the British coast.

According to media reports, only three of the rare Sei species have been found on the British coast in the last 20 years.

The whale is 33ft long. Its apparent cause of death is getting caught in shallow waters, rolling onto its own blowhole before getting swept inland by the tide.

“Sometimes whales come into shallow water looking for food and get stuck,” said Kirsten Smith, North Seas manager at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. “With the high tide the whale probably got carried up on to the salt marsh, got pushed back further in shore and then got stuck when the tide went out.