Dramatic rise in whale and dolphin strandings in Scotland

A Sowerby’s beaked whale. In just over two weeks this summer, 36 beaked and pilot whales were stranded in locations from Ireland to Orkney, Norfolk, southern Sweden and the Netherlands (pictured). Photograph: Jeroen Hoekendijk

The number of marine mammals stranded in Scotland has risen dramatically in the past 30 years, a study has found.

From 1992 to 2022, 5,147 cetaceans died on Scottish shores, and a new paper shows steep increases in the rate of strandings of up to 800% in some species, continuing exponentially every year.