A young whale that washed up on a sandbank at a Scottish nature reserve is believed to have died after becoming entangled in creel lines.
The marine mammal was discovered at Loch Fleet Nature Reserve on Thursday.
Experts from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) have confirmed it was a juvenile female humpback whale.
Humpback whales are being sighted with increasing regularity in Scottish waters and are known to migrate through the area between their feeding and breeding grounds.
SMASS collates and analyses all reports of stranded cetaceans and will carry out autopsies to understand what led to the death.
However, the investigation of the cause of death remains in early stages.
Research associate Nick Davison said that the "initial examination would indicate it died due to entanglement in creel lines".
READ MORE: Dead whale washes up on sandbank at Scottish nature reserve
The discovery comes around two weeks after a minke whale washed up on a beach in North Berwick, East Lothian, which saw workers spend hours removing the nine-tonne mammal.
On Thursday, contractors were hoping they could remove the carcass of a 55ft (17m) fin whale which washed up in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, earlier this week and died on Tuesday.
Since then, the huge carcass has become a macabre tourist attraction, with families coming down to look and people taking selfies.
There were concerns the whale would have to be dissected to remove it from the beach but East Riding of Yorkshire Council has said it is now hoping to move it whole.
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