A marine expert is looking for answers after a 40-foot whale washed up dead on a Tayside beach.
Gareth Norman, area co-ordinator with British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), has questioned why so many whales are getting into difficulty and becoming stranded on the east coast.
Earlier this month, 17 whales, including three calves, died after a 27-strong pod beached on rocks between Pittenweem and Anstruther.
A second group of 24 pilot whales, thought to be from the same pod, was spotted in shallow water near Cellardyke but they later dispersed.
Attempts to rescue a minke whale, caught in netting off the Angus coast, near the Bell Rock Lighthouse, also ended in failure on the same weekend.
The latest dead whale was discovered by a passer-by on the beach at Elliot, Arbroath, around 8.30am on Friday.
Police were called to the scene, near Arbroath Golf Club, along with coastguard teams from Arbroath and Carnoustie and members of the BDMLR, who examined the carcass.
It is believed it might be the same whale that was spotted near St Andrews on Wednesday.
Mr Norman said it was not one of the whales from the mass stranding at Pittenweem, because they had teeth.
He said: ”It’s a baleen whale, a filter feeder, and you can also distinguish that by the double blowhole.
”The concern is why are so many whales now coming ashore? In the past few weeks we’ve had a mass stranding in Fife, a whale in difficulty at the Bell Rock and now this.
”We’re looking at what could be responsible for what’s happening.”
He added: ”Two days ago a baleen whale was reported at East Sands in St Andrews by the Sea Mammal Research Unit. They took some pictures ready for it stranding somewhere and it could be the same whale.”
Mr Norman said they were looking at natural phenomena as well as human activity as possible causes for strandings.
He said: ”On the 30th of August there was a sea quake off the coast of Norway and it may have caused the mammals to veer off course. There was also a solar flare reported at the same time and we have to wonder if that has anything to do with it.
”The whales could also have been following squid too close to the shore, which is another possibility.”
Mr Norman also suggested that activity off Fife, where a windfarm is planned, might also have to be considered.
The solar flare, captured by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, erupted at 8.36pm on August 31.
Scientists have previously suggested that surges of solar activity may cause whales to run aground after looking at details of sperm whales beached on North Sea coasts between 1712 and 2003.
More whale strandings occurred when the sun’s activity was high, they found.
There are also numerous accounts of whale beachings suggesting natural causes, such as old age, illness, difficulty giving birth, hunting too close to a coastline, rough weather, and errors in navigation.