EXPERTS are unable to say what caused the death of a Minke whale which was found washed up at a beach in Wemyss Bay.

The 10ft whale drifted ashore on Friday morning and was spotted lying on rocks near to Undercliff Road.

Bemused residents were the first to spot the body of the mammal and people gathered on the beach on Friday as news about the whale spread.

The Minke whale's tongue had swollen and was protruding from its mouth, something which experts say can happen as the mammal decomposes.

Gillian Kennedy, who lives at Undercliff Road, said: "It was a sad sight.

"I have seen a porpoise and sometimes seals in the the water here but never a whale." Neighbour Iain Wilson added: "This is a very unusual sight.

"I have lived here for many years and never seen anything like it." On Friday the Telegraph contacted marine experts from the Scottish Agricultural College, based in Inverness, who specialise in studying stranded whales.

Barry McGovern, marine strandings co-ordinator, had planned to travel to Wemyss Bay to carry out a post-mortem examination on the whale but it was removed by Inverclyde Council on Friday afternoon amid concern about people injuring themselves clambering over slippy rocks to see it.

Mr McGovern said: "Public safety always takes precedence in these cases.

"It's a pity I didn't get to do a post-mortem but the council has offered to take measurements and the weight of the animal, which is all very useful data and will be added to our growing database." The expert, who studied our pictures of the dead whale, added that it appeared to have no visible injuries, with the exact cause of death therefore a mystery.

A spokeswoman from the Marine Conservation Society - who identified the whale as a young Minke - said that the mammals grow to around 30ft, weigh around seven tonnes and are regularly spotted in the water around the west coast of Scotland.

A spokeswoman for Clyde Coastguard said they had first received reports of the whale floating in the water around Rothesay on Thursday and had been tracking the dead mammal waiting for it to drift ashore.