In the early hours of Sunday 16 July, a pod of 55 long-finned pilot whales stranded on the beautiful, remote Traigh Mhor beach on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
The stranding was first attended by British Divers Marine Life Rescue, Stornoway Coastguard and other local authorities. A rescue attempt was made and one whale was successfully refloated. Sadly, the rest either died or were euthanised.
In order to learn as much as possible about these whales in the little time available, a call was put out for help and experts came from the Netherlands and England to assist the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) to undertake detailed post-mortem examinations.
I travelled up from my home in Fife to Lewis to assist, as a trained SMASS volunteer. The vets and biologists undertook as many detailed examinations as were possible in the time available while the bodies were still fresh enough to allow for the collection of data.
