A rare fin whale has mysteriously washed up on a beach in Norfolk.
The 40ft whale was already dead when it was brought onto shore at Holkham beach on Thursday afternoon.
Experts said it is unclear how the whale may have reached the area, as fin whales are not usually found in the North Sea.
Dr Ben Garrod, of Anglia Ruskin University, told the BBC: “If it is a fin that’s very, very surprising.
“Fin whales are rarely, if ever, seen in the North Sea and are instead found more regularly, but still not commonly, off the Western British Isles.
“Without any more information right now, it’s impossible to say why it might have been there or why it died.”
A post-mortem will be carried out by the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, which examines whale, dolphin porpoise strandings in the UK.
Bird photographer Penny Clarke, 51, came across the whale while walking on the beach.
“It’s really sad,” she said. “It looked really fresh like it had only just washed up. It’s an amazing creature, just so sad to see it like this.”
Walkers have been warned to avoid the carcass, although a spokesman for the Holkham Estate has said the beach remains open.
The fin whale, which is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the second largest living animal, behind the blue whale, according to the WWF. They can grow up to around 27m long and weigh about 70,000kg.
Six sperm whales and a minke have washed up on beaches in Lincolnshire and Norfolk this year, while a total of 30 sperm whales are believed to have died in the North Sea in 2016. It is thought they died after making their way into shallow waters while hunting squid.
Last month a 50ft sperm whale washed up in Devon, prompting the coastguard to raise a cordon to stop the public getting too close.
And in January, a sperm whale weighing around 30 tonnes died after getting stuck on a Norfolk beach when it injured its tail beneath the cliffs at Hunstanton.