On Tuesday, 8 April 2025, British Divers Marine Life Rescue received a report of a whale seen in Ettrick Bay, Isle of Bute. With excellent information from the first informant, the animal was identified as a sperm whale, approximately 14 metres long, resting in the shallow water of the bay.
All ocean traffic was advised of the whale’s presence, and to avoid the bay to allow it to remain undisturbed. The whale showed little signs of distress and a normal respiratory rate, with BDMLR Medics, Coastguard, and a local aerial photographer monitoring the whale late into the evening as the tide receded, and a plan formulated if the whale became fully stranded. Sadly, at first light, the whale was reported to have naturally passed away in the bay.
Sperm whale strandings can be caused by malnutrition, illness, or injury, and they are not suitable candidates to be refloated back to sea. The Firth of Clyde is too shallow to support the needs of a natural deep-diving Sperm whale.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has identified the whale as the same animal that swam in the Irish south coast in late March, showing the mammal had swum approximately 500km in two weeks. Today, the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme is on site to perform a necropsy to discover more about the whale and the reasons for its stranding.
We would like to thank the local Coastguard, Bute Council, SMASS, SDPhotographyBute, Clyde Charters, IWDG, and the members of the public.
Photos: SDPhotographyBute.
