A recovery operation is under way after two whales became stranded off the east coast of Scotland.

The coastguard was alerted around midnight on Tuesday to a report of two whales beached on the shore in Culross, Fife.

The northern bottlenose whales are understood to be rare visitors to the North Sea.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said one of the animals died around 6am on Wednesday and the other is in shallow water, but is unlikely to survive.

Bottlenose whales in the Clyde
Northern bottlenose whales were spotted in and around the Clyde in autumn 2020 (Steve Truluk/PA)

South Queensferry coastguard rescue team is assisting.

The animals are thought to be two from a trio of the same species spotted in the Moray Firth earlier.

A BDMLR spokesman said the charity was called out to what was thought to be two harbour porpoises stranded on the rocky shoreline at Culross at 10pm on Tuesday.

He said: “At 11pm it was confirmed that there were in fact two northern bottlenose whales stranded, one was not moving but the other was quite active, both were lying on their sides in the sand and gravel substrate.

“Coastguard teams supported BDMLR medics throughout the night as they monitored the whales. At 6am one whale was confirmed deceased, the other whale is being monitored and is supporting itself in the water, we are waiting on further veterinary advice.

“The northern bottlenose whale is a species not often found in the North Sea, three animals were sighted off the Moray Firth last week. Adults can reach up to 10m and feed primarily on squid.”

The stranding is the latest of several in the UK and comes 10 days after a pod of 55 whales beached in the Western Isles.

In autumn 2020, rescuers, including BDMLR, the Ministry of Defence and local volunteers, attempted to shepherd a pod of northern bottlenose whales to sea from Loch Long, Argyll, ahead of a major military exercise.

They switched to monitoring the animals from shore after unsuccessful herding attempts.