Beachgoers' concern after buried whale resurfaces on Redcar beach

Weekend walkers along Redcar beach had a stroll with a difference last weekend after the large mammal, believed to have washed up during high tide, was first spotted at first light on Saturday morning.

A cordon was quickly erected by council officers to steer the public away from the dead carcass while the authority said arrangements had been made to remove the whale.

However, the whale was then spotted just a day later in a different location on the beach, again with a cordon around it. This time closer to the sea wall and the Coast Road, Lingdale resident Paula Miller captured the whale alongside scores of dead crustaceans.

She said: “What on Earth is going on at Redcar. A dead whale and thousands and thousands of mussels and Razor clam dead.”

The whale washed up again by the promenade in Redcar (Image: Paula Miller)

Read more: Redcar whale incident - Cordon put up in place on beach

A new image posted online earlier this week of a beached whale raised further health concerns over sea life off the Teesside coast, however the council confirmed it was the same Minke Whale which had resurfaced after previously being buried in the sand.

The whale had become a blight on the landscape and caused a stink for anyone who stepped near it. One beachgoer said: “[It] just keeps decomposing and rolling around, it’s got to be a health hazard, the smell is horrendous.”

The whale was captured by another passer-by, but its now decomposed and smaller body led to claims it could be a walrus (Image: Patricia Frood)

A Redcar and Cleveland Council spokesman said the whale was washed further down the coast, dispelling any suggestion of a second fatality, and it was buried beneath the sand at low tide on Wednesday.

It is not the first time a whale has washed up on the beach, however. In June last year, the coastguard were called to a similar incident when a large Minke Whale washed up. 

Local seal rescue volunteer Sally Bunce is one of many locals to who is alarmed at the deterioration of the local marine life and fears the Teesside and North Yorkshire coast has become a red zone.  

Mussels and Razor Clams have also washed up along the coastline (Image: Paula Miller)

“It shouldn’t have been buried where it was,” she said after talking to marine experts about the beached whale in Redcar.

“It washed back out once and washed back in and got lodged on the wall by the promenade and was stinking the place out, and then supposedly got washed back out again and this time it’s come back in, and they’ve suddenly decided to bury it.

“That will decompose, the sand will collapse, and it will wash out again. It does seem odd.”

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