Three dead sperm whales washed up on beach near Skegness

Three dead sperm whales have washed up on a beach in Lincolnshire just a day after another was beached in Norfolk.

Two of the 48ft whales were found on the beach near Skegness at around 8.30pm on Saturday and the third was discovered on Sunday morning.

The whales, which are thought to have died at sea, are believed to be from the same pod as the animal that died on Hunstanton beach on Friday, HM Coastguard said.

Richard Johnson, of UK Coastguard, said: "We believe that the three whales at Skegness died at sea and then washed ashore.

"We are advising members of the public to stay away from the beach.

"We have informed the Receiver of Wreck and we are expecting an officer from the Zoological Society of London to attend the scene and carry out tests on the whales."

Skegness and Chapel St Leonards Coastguard Rescue Teams have cordoned off the area.

The dead animals are believed to have been part of a group of six spotted in The Wash on Friday. The pod has been linked to 12 whales that stranded and died in the Netherlands and Germany earlier this month.

It is unknown where the rest of the pod are.

Dr Peter Evans, director of the Seawatch Foundation, said the whales probably swam south looking for food but got disorientated.

"They feed on squid and what's probably happened is that squid came in and the whales fed upon them but ran out of food," he said.

"The further south they got the shallower the water gets and when they got to Norfolk, which is very, very shallow, it's quite difficult to navigate and they tend to lose their way and actually strand."