According to a new study over 3,400 whales, dolphins and porpoises have beached on UK shores over the past six years.

The figures, released by the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), show an increase in strandings of certain species such as the humpback whale. The most common causes of death included; starvation, infectious disease, becoming entangled in fishing nets and porpoises having been attacked by bottlenose dolphins. Cases of bycatch were lower than the first half of the decade and also a slight decline in beachings of dolphins and harbour porpoises. For its research, the CSIP conducted more than 750 post-mortem examinations on stranded animals and investigated high-profile cases, including the northern bottlenose whale that swam up the Thames in 2006.

Encouraging news is that members of the public reported many of the strandings which helped with investigations,however many strandings around UK waters are still go unreported. A new campaign is being launched to encourage more people to report stranded animals. This would not only could save the life of an animal but also assist with building a database of information that is shared with scientists worlwide. Thousands of leaflets containing information on how to identify stranded animals are to be distributed around the coastline and will be made available online to assist with obtaining more accurate reports.

A copy of the leaflet can be found here