Council hopeful that huge whale does not drift on to Cleethorpes beach or things could get costly

The whale as seen from the RSPB's Tetney Marshes this morning.  The vessel behind it is an oil tanker, Penelop, which has been berthed at the Tetney terminal while it unloads it cargo. 

NORTH  East Lincolnshire Council is keeping fingers crossed that a dead sperm whale is not washed up on any of our holiday beaches.

The creatures pictured is today lying on a sandbank some 400 metres -plus out from the Humber Mouth yacht club.

It is thought to be one of several, possibly five, that have this week been washed up in the mouth of the Humber Estuary.

Where it lies at present is not causing an issue for the council, but should an incoming tide bring it inland, there could be a huge cost - at least five figures - in removing it to a suitable landfill site, possibly the one at Winterton, near Scunthorpe.

Science has not yet established why such strandings occur.

It is sometimes suggested that the magnificent creatures are disorientated by vibrations from offshore windfarms or noise from any number of  marine sources, but there seems to be little conclusive evidence.

Sperm whales are creatures of deep ocean it is a mystery how they find themselves in the relatively shallow North sea let alone the Humber Estuary.