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Whales wash up in Skegness

A truly sad sight this morning, two deceased sperm whales washed up on a beach near Skegness.

Thought to be linked to the one washed up at Hunstanton this week, these two were discovered by a warden who alerted HM Coastguard.

The local coastguard team have been on scene to protect the area whilst scientific studies of the creatures are carried out.

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Washed up treasure

During the recent storms, various items have been washed up or discovered on beaches around the country.

From a rare dinosaur fossil to unexploded ordnance the coast has been giving up its history and in some cases dangerous past. The BBC reported these items so far.

Certain items washed up MUST be reported to the Coastguard and the Receiver of Wreck

If you are not sure what you have found, don't touch - dial 999 and ask for Coastguard. Recently items have been dug up taken home and the finder have second thoughts and caused the emergency services to evacuate homes.

Royal Fish

Did you know that Royal Fish are sturgeons, porpoises, whales and dolphins? ( In Scotland, porpoises and dolphins, and whales, measuring less than 25 feet from snout to the middle of the tail, are not Royal Fish.)

So what does this have to do with the Coastguard?

Yesterday as you may have read from our main web site the team was called to a report of a dolphin in distress by the stone quay. A department within the Coastguard called the Receiver of Wreck (ROW) normally deals with wrecks (Napoli and Ice Prince are recent example of their role) however Royal Fish is an ancient role that they are also responsible for and with over 10,000 miles of coast, local coastguard teams are sent to assess the situation, to protect the area and report back.
If it’s alive we normally liaise with the RSPCA but locally we have the wardens at the Durlston Marine Watch who are always keen to help. Sadly if it’s dead the ROW will arrange its removal that’s not before Coastguards have to measure and take details down for the Natural History Museum, who said this was all about search and rescue? For some excellent pictures see the lifeboat scrapbook who caught the incident as it developed.