A rescue mission to save nine pilot whales stranded on mudflats in the Swale estuary at Seasalter, between Whitstable and the Isle of Sheppey, has ended after rescue teams found the mammals unreachable.
The pod of whales became stranded on the mudflats, prompting around 30 members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and crews from the HM Coastguard to respond to the scene on Monday. The teams used specialist equipment in an attempt to reach the stranded mammals, but due to challenging tidal conditions and difficult terrain, they were ultimately unable to reach them.
Rescue teams were stood down at around 10.30 pm on Monday. As of this morning, the whales have not yet been sighted after it was hoped they would refloat when the tide came in.
Local birdwatcher Mark Chidwick captured footage of the stranded whales yesterday. He was first alerted by another birdwatcher who posted the news on the Faversham Birding Group community page. Mr Chidwick and his friend Mike Gould observed the whales from The Sportsman pub while initially counting Brent Geese in the Swale estuary.
Mr Chidwick said, “I was scanning the geese and picked up on the whales on the edge of the Swale. We watched them, but it was strange as the tide was dropping. You could see they were getting distressed. We posted what was happening online and contacted the correct people.”
Pilot whales, known for their worldwide distribution, are one of the largest oceanic dolphins, second in size only to orcas. The incident marks another unfortunate occurrence of whales becoming stranded in the Swale estuary, following a similar event in 2020 when a sperm whale died two days after being spotted off the Whitstable coast.
The BDMLR is continuing to monitor the area, and it remains unclear if any further rescue attempts will be made.
