WHALE I NEVER!
Thousands of miles from home, a beluga in Thames
THAR she blows, the great white whale ... right in the middle of the Thames!
The estuary was transformed into a scene from Moby Dick yesterday as a beluga whale ventured thousands of miles from home.
The giants of the deep, known for their melon-shaped forehead, are usually found in the Arctic waters off Alaska, Russia, Canada and Greenland.
The whale was videoed by ecologist Dave Andrews, who said it was feeding around barges off Coalhouse Fort, Essex, 15 miles from the mouth of the river.
It may have found itself in warmer waters due to last week’s storms. Whale and Dolphin Conservation spokesman Danny Groves said: ‘This is a High Arctic species thousands of miles from where it should be. He or she is obviously very lost and quite possibly in trouble.’
But Julia Cable, of British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said it seemed to be healthy. The RSPCA is monitoring the situation.
In 2006, rescuers failed to save a 16ftlong northern bottlenose whale that swam down the Thames. Belugas, which can grow to 20ft, are occasionally spotted in UK waters but have never been seen further south than Northumberland.