A porpoise washed up on a Bexhill beach following heavy winds and stormy conditions - making it the second in a week.

The five foot long animal was found dead lying on the shingle of South Cliff beach just before 11am on Saturday.

This comes after dog walkers discovered a decomposing baby porpoise the week before.

A spokesman for Sussex Wildlife Trust said it was impossible to know if the two deaths were linked but Bexhill Coastguard reported that the deaths were likely to be down to the bad weather.

Danny Groves, from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, added: “The large numbers of whales, dolphins and porpoises found dead or stranded around the world's coastlines each year are often helpless, and usually die within a few hours or days if not attended to in the right way.

“Cause of death could be for a number of reasons - old age, illness or due to man-made threats such as injury from boat propellers or entanglement in fishing nets and gear.

“Nets and fishing gear are the biggest killer of whales and dolphins across the globe, causing terrible injury and typically death by suffocation.”

The latest porpoise to be washed up was removed by the council.