Fears are growing for a giant sperm whale spotted in the Thames Estuary.
Experts are increasingly concerned the huge mammal may become trapped at low tide on mudflats after it was seen on Thursday.
The creature, thought to be about 50ft long, was first discovered off the coast at Whitstable, Kent just before 12pm yesterday.
It was reported to the HM Maritime and Coastguard by staff at The Bubble Cafe on Whitstable seafront.
Assistant manager Charlotte Bambridge told Kent Online the whale was ‘quite close and sort of stuck in one position for quite a while’.
She said: ‘Then he moved slowly towards the harbour for about an hour, and he was spraying water in the air.
‘Then he stopped right where the harbour looks out, about 200m in front, and stayed there for about 15 to 20 minutes.
‘We were worried he might be stuck so we called the Coastguard, but then the tide came in and he drifted off towards the Isle of Sheppey.’
Later in the afternoon, onlookers reported sightings in The Swale, a stretch of water between the Isle of Sheppey and the Kent mainland.
Volunteers from the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) have now been sent to The Swale to closely monitor the creature from a distance.
A spokesman said seeing a sperm whale on the coastline ‘normally means they are unwell or not eaten which means it could be malnourished’.
He added: ‘There are lots of mudflats on The Swale. The tide is high at the moment but when the tide goes out we are concerned it could get trapped. We have people looking out for it.’
The sperm whale is the world’s largest predator and can dive up to depths of more than 2,000 – deeper than any other mammal.
Anna Bunney, head of education for ORCA said: ‘It is worrying to see a sperm whale there in the Thames.
‘It is rare and worrying to see them stray into the North Sea which is not a good place for them as the sea is only 50-60m deep there and the sea bed is mostly sand which is not good for their echo location.
‘Females tend to stay in tropical waters raising their young while the males migrate north to look for food.
‘We normally see them off the west coast of the country where the water is much deeper.’
The sperm whale is the latest in a number of large sea creatures that have made it into the Thames Estuary in the last 18 months.
In September 2018, a beluga whale named Benny was spotted near Gravesend, Kent, remaining in the waters for months before disappearing.
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In October last year, a juvenile Humpback whale called Hessy was seen in the River Thames, near Greenhithe, Kent.
The 27ft-long creature tragically died days later after a collision with a ship left her with wounds to her jaw and head.
It was revealed in December that a sperm whale which died after being washed up on a Scottish beach had a 220lb ball of litter inside it.
