Sperm whale

 A few months after a Sperm Whale jaw bone washed up on Davis Beach an entire corpse has now appeared.  It seemed quite small - perhaps 5m long - by Sperm whale standards.  However I then paced out the length (approximately) on the dune and it was actually around 12m!

The jaw was rated of little interest to science as the teeth were all missing.  They aren't missing in this specimen!  

When we revisited on 8 September the carcase was rolling around in the water giving a clear view of the teeth.

Note the discoloured water on the seawards side of the head.  Sharks will be reacting to that tasty scent.

There was a steady stream of people to look at the body, as may be judged by the number of footprints!  It was pleasing that Parks had put up a few warning notices about the likelihood of sharks being attracted etc but not otherwise restricted access.  However from burblings on the DEWLP Facebook site it is apparent that - although they don't tell anyone - there is actually a 300m exclusion zone.   I expect people will continue to ignore that.

The heavy swells were causing the carcase to roll around a lot and have eroded the beach more than somewhat.