32ft whale washes up dead on Norfolk coast

A 32ft (10-metre) sperm whale has washed up dead on the north Norfolk coast.

The juvenile male washed up at Sheringham on Tuesday and two members of Sheringham Coastguard went to investigate the stranding, the service said.

Photos, measurements and details of the creature were taken and sent to the Natural History Museum and other organisations, the coastguard said.

The Norfolk Cetaceans group said the whale may have been part of the same pod that recently stranded in Yorkshire.

Ten whales died after becoming stranded between Withernsea and Tunstall in East Yorkshire on Christmas Eve, British Divers Marine Life Rescue said.

Norfolk Cetaceans said the Sheringham whale “may even be one of the Yorkshire cadavers two of which were washed back out to sea”.

Rob Deaville, of the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, said on Twitter: “Given the condition, possibly one of the animals lost to the tide over Christmas at the mass stranding site.”

Cromer and Sheringham Coastguard warned people to stay away from the whale and to keep dogs on a lead as dead mammals “can be full of dangerous toxins”.

“Dolphins, porpoises and whales are all protected under the Royal Fish laws of the United Kingdom and HM Coastguard undertakes duties on behalf of the Receiver of a Wreck to record details of Royal Fish washed ashore,” the coastguard added.