#MarineWildlife - Marine scientists have been puzzled by the recent beaching of a whale rarely seen off the east coast of England.

According to the Guardian, the carcass of a 12m fin whale washed up at Holkham in Norfolk last Thursday afternoon (20 October), far from its usual waters between Britain and Ireland.

“You never get them in the North Sea, so what it was doing there, we have no idea at the moment,” biologist Dr Ben Garrod told the newspaper.

It’s not yet known what causes the marine giant’s death, though collision with a vessel in the North Sea has been mooted as one possibility, as the Eastern Daily Press reports.

#MarineWildlife - The carcass of a female common minke whale found on a beach in Norfolk on Monday marks the third such discovery on Britain's coasts in a week, as The Guardian reports.

The grim discovery at Sea Palling follows a similar beaching of a larger 7.6m long female minke in nearby Cromer East just four days before.

And as reported on Afloat.ie, a nine-metre minke was found dead on the beach at Magilligan Point in Co Derry last week - itself the third whale standing in Northern Ireland since September.

The Sea Palling whale, believed to have washed up on the beach dead, was found by North Norfolk council staff with a hole in its jaw and abrasions on its body, but according to Sea Watch Foundation was "well-fed and otherwise healthy".

A post-mortem was set to be carried out yesterday (26 November) to determine if the stranding provides any cause for concern for minke whales who come to British and Irish shores in big numbers over the winter months.