A POST mortem has been carried out into the death of a 30-foot whale calf which died after becoming stranded on the Dee Estuary.

On Monday evening the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) conducted the investigation into the fin whale calf's death after it beached three times between June 12 and 14.

Following a lengthy recovery process of the the 12.65m and 14 tonne male whale calf, the examination was carried out at a nearby port facility by a CSIP team from ZSL and Marine Environmental Monitoring, with support from from Natural Resources Wales and the University of Liverpool.

Wirral Globe: The whale during the post mortem. (Source - CSIP-ZSL)The whale during the post mortem. (Source - CSIP-ZSL)

A statement released on Wednesday by the CSIP said the whale - believed to have been about a year old - was judged to be in moderate-poor nutritional condition, with no evidence of recent feeding.

Relatively minor parasitic infestations were noted within the vasculature of the kidneys and also within the stomachs and intestinal tract and in the blubber.

There was no evidence of marine debris/plastic ingestion in the whale's stomach.

The findings from the gross examination are currently considered to be consistent with live stranding of a "nutritionally compromised and out of habitat individual".

Further tests are said to be pending and follow up results will be released if anything of note arises.

Wirral Globe: The whale during the post mortem. (Source - CSIP-ZSL)The whale during the post mortem. (Source - CSIP-ZSL)

The CSIP said: "A wide range of samples and data were collected during the course of the examination and will help inform research on this species and shed light on the threat’s cetaceans face in UK waters. "This is the third fin whale to be reported in the UK this year - over the last five-year period 17 fin whales have been reported stranded in the UK.

"Huge thanks to our friends and colleagues from Natural Resources Wales for helping to coordinate the logistics of recovery and for their assistance during the examination on Monday night.

"Many thanks as well to our colleague Dr Julian Chantrey from the University of Liverpool for volunteering his time to take part in the examination and to our colleagues in British Divers Marine Life Rescue for all their hard work and help over the weekend.

"And special thanks to all the staff at the Port of Mostyn ltd, Marland Marine and the team at Bob Francis Crane Hire & Heavy Haulage for their much appreciated help in facilitating our access to the whale on Monday."

Wirral Globe: (Source - CSIP-ZSL)(Source - CSIP-ZSL)