The first long-finned pilot whale to beach in the southern North Sea for 22 years died from starvation, post-mortem tests have found. The whale, among a 40-strong pod seen along the East Anglian coast, washed up near Goldhanger, Essex, on Thursday afternoon. Marine experts successfully encouraged most of the whales from the shallow Blackwater Estuary into deeper waters. But one - a 2.18m female - was found dead.

Rob Deaville, cetacean strandings programme manager at ZSL, said the whale was found on a beach with "partial rigor mortis". "[This] indicates that the whale is likely to have died that morning, possibly around the time that the pod of whales was observed up the Blackwater River near Osea Island," he said. To read full article click here