WORK will begin on Monday to remove the carcass of a whale washed up on the Co Down shore.
The 20ft whale – believed to be a minke whale – washed up on the shore at Killough on Friday.
The animal was discovered on a stretch of the shore close to St John’s Point lighthouse by a passerby.
A team from Newcastle Coastguard Station was sent to the scene to measure and photograph the body.
It is believed the whale may have already been dead for a fortnight before coming ashore.
It is understood the dead whale had also been spotted by a local yacht crew on Thursday while still in the water.
Minke whales a common sight around Irish waters over the summer months.
Many of them migrate south from Scotland for food.
According to the Sea Watch Foundation, they are most densely populated along the Atlantic seaboard but are occasionally observed in the Irish Sea.
It said the animals tend to be solitary and rarely in groups of more than two or three.
Although estimates vary, it is thought there could be around 10,000 minke whales in the waters around Britain and Ireland and as many as one million worldwide.
The whale was one of two reported as stranded by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) in the past week.
A pilot whale was also found beached at Cliffoney Beach in Co Sligo.
Last October, the carcass of a 43ft juvenile fin whale washed up on Portstewart Strand in Co Derry.
