'Hopes high' for stranded humpback whale after refloating

The whale was reported stranded at Southerness on Tuesday afternoon

Rescuers say they are hopeful a humpback whale found stranded on the south of Scotland coastline will make a full recovery after it was refloated.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) was alerted to the situation at Southerness at about 15:30 on Tuesday.

It said the 9m (30ft) whale was lucky that it did not have to wait long for the returning tide to wash over the area to refloat it.

Checks the following day found no sign of the whale and medics will monitor the coastline over the coming days to ensure it has not got stranded again.

Rescuers said the whale had be lucky to only be stuck for a couple of hours

BDMLR said the beach in the area was almost entirely flat which meant that a large area of sand and rocks was left completely dry at low tide.

It said humpback whale live strandings in the UK were "very few and far between" and it had responded to only a handful.

Initial photos showed the whale was situated quite far offshore, making it difficult to identify the species and learn what condition it was in.

However, members of the public reported they could hear the "thuds of the whale thrashing its tail flukes", desperately trying to get itself off the sand as the water around it dropped.

An alert was sent to local marine mammal medics to attend and assess the situation ahead of the BDMLR medics and the coastguard.

It is hoped the stranded whale has made its way safely back out to sea

Alistair Bertram, BDMLR's assistant area co-ordinator for Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway said: "It is very unusual to get a humpback stranded in the first place, particular an alive one to be stranded, and even more unusual to get it stranded, stay alive, and get away.

"It is almost miraculous.

"Most will end up dead when they are stranded. This is one is very lucky in surviving."

Mr Bertram went out to Southerness after receiving a call from a member of the public.

"You think a large whale would be easy to find, but it took me over an hour once I was there to trudge a mile through the mud and find it," he said.

“We tried to make it as comfortable as possible, looked after it, tried to release one of its pectoral fins which was stuck in the mud, and waited for the tide to come back in."

Luckily the whale was only stranded for a couple of hours before it was able to refloat.

A medic was then sent out at first light on Wednesday to see if their "hopes had come true".

"Thankfully, there was no sign of the whale along the coast or for about a mile offshore, however this doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t see it again," said the BDMLR.

"Medics will be monitoring the coastline over the coming days to check if it has restranded.

"We hope the humpback recovers fully and was merely caught out by the huge tides in this region."