Dolphin found dead on bank of River Thames

A dead dolphin has been found on the bank of the River Thames in south-west London, days after it was seen swimming in the waterway.

The mammal was spotted lying on the foreshore at Mortlake in Richmond upon Thames on Thursday, the Port of London Authority (PLA) said.

A dolphin had been seen swimming in the tideway section of the river between Hammersmith Bridge and Putney Bridge on Tuesday.

A PLA spokesperson said: "Unfortunately, when dolphins are sighted this far up the Thames it can often indicate they are already in distress."

They added: "British Divers Marine Life Rescue have been monitoring the situation and we are working with them, Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) and other partners to carefully recover the animal and establish what may have happened."

Rob Deaville, CSIP project manager, said the adult male short-beaked common dolphin was believed to be the dolphin sighted at various locations across the Thames in the last few days.

Deaville said the animal had travelled the furthest west up the River Thames for a common dolphin.

He said that in the past 35 years, common dolphin deaths had rarely been reported within the southern North Sea, but were being increasingly recorded, with the "reasonable assumption" that it was due to climate change.

"Historically the North Sea was an alien habitat for this species," he said.

Deaville said a post-mortem examination would take place on Friday, but the animal showed signs of skin damage from fresh water, and appeared "skinny" and "not in the best condition".

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