Humpback whale stranded on beach near Southerness in rare incident in Dumfries and Galloway

A humpback whale stranded itself on a beach in a rare incident in Dumfries and Galloway.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were alerted to the stranding off the coast of Southerness as the tide was receding at around 3.30pm on Tuesday.

The organisation said members of the public reported hearing thuds of the whale thrashing its tail flukes, desperately trying to manoeuvre itself off the sand as the water around it dropped.

An alert was sent to local Marine Mammal Medics to attend the scene, while a resident couple with knowledge of the area walked out to the whale to collect more photos while Medics and the Coastguard made their way to the scene.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue was alerted to the stranding off the coast of Southerness as the tide was receding. British Divers Marine Life Rescue

The photos collected by the couple showed the whale to be around nine metres long and flailing its tail in the air which propelled it deeper into the sand.

“The couple informed us that the incoming tide rushes in fairly quickly when it turns, so we were hopeful that the whale would only be stranded for a matter of hours before the water could hopefully re-float it without any intervention,” BDMLR said.

Despite showing signs of stress, the organisation said the whale was in “moderate” condition and as it began to tire its breathing began to relax.

The organisation said large beached whales are “impossible” to move safely so all volunteers could do was ensure the whale was comfortable.

Fortunately, the whale was stranded for only a couple of hours before low tide so it was able to re-float itself once the water washed over the area.

The team was stood down due to lack of light making it difficult to identify where the whale was and a medic was sent out at first light.

“Thankfully, there was no sign of the whale along the coast or for about a mile offshore, however this doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t see it again,” BDLMR said.

“Medics will monitor the coastline over the coming days to check if it has stranded itself again.”

The organisation said that humpback whale live strandings in the UK are “very few and far between” adding that it had only responded to a handful.

“We’d like to extend a huge thanks to the HM Coastguard for their support and of course to our dedicated Marine Mammal Medics for responding to this incident,” BDLMR said.

“We hope the humpback recovers fully and was merely caught out by the huge tides in this region.”