Northern bottlenose whales die in Scotland and Wales

13/10/2009 15:47:17 Single whales strand in separate incidents
October 2009. Despite considerable efforts by Scottish SPCA, BDMLR, WDCS and various local organizations, a northern bottlenose whale that was first spotted in Scotland's Loch Eil several days ago has now been found dead in neighbouring Loch Linnhe.

Attempts will now be made to recover the whale in order to carry out a post mortem, which will be vital in determining possible cause of death and perhaps the reasons as to why it entered the sea loch in the first place.

Whale forced to move from Loch Eil
Hopes were raised on Sunday when the whale was driven into the deeper waters of Loch Linnhe (and nearer the sea) following the use of innovative techniques provide by the Sea Mammal Research Unit to move the whale using sound recordings.

As yet, it is unclear if it was the recordings of the bottlenose whale's natural predator, the orca, or man-made noises that encouraged the whale to move, but it does seem that the technique was successful.

Northern bottlenose whales
This species is normally found in the deep seas, and it may have been unlikely to be able to feed in the shallow waters of the loch. This is the same species that died in the Thames a few years ago, and, curiously, at almost exactly the same date last year, another bottlenose whale was found in Loch Eil and this animal also died. The configuration of the lochs here may form something of a whale trap, with narrow and shallow sections inhibiting any whales that enter these waters from leaving.

And almost the same time, a second bottlenose whale was found dead in Talacre in Wales.

Courtesy of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society