POST-MORTEM examinations are expected to take place after two whales stranded near Culross died.

The northern bottlenose whales were beached on the rocky shoreline on Tuesday evening.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and the South Queensferry coastguard rescue team attended but one whale died at 6am on Wednesday and the other at 2pm.

Northern bottlenose whales are understood to be rare visitors to the North Sea and can grow to 10 metres in length, feeding primarily on squid.

The rescue charity said the carcasses are expected to be removed from the site for post-mortem examinations by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Society.

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

BDMLR said that the northern bottlenose is a deep diving species and the whales were far outside of their normal habitat.

A spokesperson added that the whales' health was likely to be compromised already based on previous experience of them at strandings.

Two sets of specialist rescue equipment were brought to the area as experts arrived on Tuesday evening, just in case any rescue may have been possible.

After discussions with the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, some complications were found and it was also deemed dangerous to get the animals in the dark on an incoming tide.

Coastguard teams supported BDMLR Medics throughout the night as they monitored the whales.

The stranding is the latest of several in the UK and comes less than two weeks 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.