The body of a dead whale has washed up on a beach in the Highlands.
Nature Scotland confirmed that the animal carcass was found on a sand bank at Loch Fleet nature reserve, in Sutherland, on Thursday.
The stranded whale was believed to be a juvenile humpback. It is unknown at this stage what caused the death.
A spokesperson for Nature Scotland said: “Sadly, we can confirm that a dead whale has been found on the sand banks at Loch Fleet.
Highland Croft/@highland_croft via Supplied
Highland Croft/@highland_croft via Supplied“We have reported it to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS).”
A spokesperson for SMASS confirmed they were going to attempt to examine the sea animal on Thursday – however they also revealed it could be difficult to move it due to the location of the stranding.
Nick Davison, research associate, said: “We do know about it and we are going to attempt to examine it later on Thursday.
“Its on a sandbank in Loch Fleet so we might not be able to do much.”
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