Yorkshire couple stunned to find massive whale skull washed up on beach

Samuel Watkiss, 24, a keen surfer and environmentalist from the Yorkshire Dales, stumbled upon the 'unusual' sight whilst out for a walk with his fiancée, Emelie Persson.

The significant sperm whale bone was spotted on Traigh Thodhrasdail beach, on the Scottish island Tiree.

Samuel said: "We knew it was part of a whale but we weren't sure which part - or even which species! I had to take some photos."

After posting on Facebook, Samuel found out the skull the pair had found had been separated from a decomposing sperm whale body - which was originally found in its entirety in June last year.

Hayley, a Tiree Ranger working for Tiree Community Development Trust, was the person who received a message about a dead whale coming ashore at The Maze - and was expecting to find a minke.

However, she was left "totally surprised" to find that instead it was a 15 metre long adult male Sperm Whale.

She explained: "It has been dead for a very long time and came in on the high tides.

"Only one or two Sperm Whales are seen off the Hebrides every year and this was certainly an unusual find.

"The whale has been recorded for Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme as well as to the Receiver of Wrecks & Coastguard as it is classed as a royal fish which in Scotland means it belongs to the Scottish Government."

Sperm Whales are deep sea diving whales that can go down to three kilometres and use echolocation to find their favourite prey, Giant Squid, says Hayley.

She added: "There's no way to tell what happened to this individual but its teeth are worn so it may be old age, although some look to have been smashed by the carcass being dragged along the seabed.

"The tides during the following days after it had been washed up caused the skull to become detached and it is lying about 80m along from the rest of the whale."