A second minke whale has washed up on a beach in East Lothian in under a month.
The decomposed carcass of a minke whale was discovered on North Berwick beach on Sunday morning.
East Lothian Council cordoned off the area and urged people to stay away until the marine mammal could be removed.
The minke whale was later lifted into a trailer and removed on Sunday afternoon.
A statement from the local authority added: "Unfortunately a badly decomposed minke whale has been washed up on North Berwick beach this morning.
"A cordon will be put in place while arrangements are made to remove it and people are advised to maintain an appropriate distance and to keep dogs away."
READ MORE: Humpback whale in Highlands died after 'entanglement in creel lines'
It is the second whale to wash up on the same beach in recent weeks, with a nine-tonne minke also being found on April 19.
Two attempts were needed to move the massive animal after tides prevented contractors from accessing the carcass on the day it became beached.
More recently, a juvenile humpback whale was found beached in Loch Fleet Nature Reserve.
An expert at the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) said initial examinations suggested the female had died after becoming tangled in creel lines.
SMASS is a dedicated research and reporting project for stranded cetaceans, pinnipeds, marine turtles and large sharks in Scotland.
Stranded whales longer than 25ft (7.62m) are considered “royal fish”, with the Scottish Government having first claim on those found dead or stranded on the shoreline north of the border on behalf of the Crown.
If it does not want to claim it, it will speak to the local authority and environmental officers, who can then arrange to collect the carcass.
Responsibility for smaller whales, as well as all porpoises, dolphins and sturgeons, lies with the local authority.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here