Experts are looking into the death of a porpoise found dead on a beach.

The baby mammal was found washed up at Ramsgate.

Scuba diving instructor Joseph Hurling tweeted a photo of the body just before 7am yesterday.

The charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue says the species appears to be a harbour porpoise.

A spokesman for the government-funded Cetacean Stranding Investigation Programme told KentOnline: "We have been made aware of what has happened and are working out the next course of action.

"The body could be disposed of by ourselves or the local authority or could end up being taken away by the tide.

"This is actually not abnormal as there are about 1,000 strandings of cetaceans in the UK every year, about half of them of harbour porpoises."

Anyone who finds a stranded whale, dolphin or other marine mammal is urged to call the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme on 0800 652 0333.

There have been many cases of creatures washing up on the county's shores.

Last January, a 12ft whale was discovered off the Kent coast.

It was found dead along the River Marshes at Stangate Creek, off Chetney Marshes near Sittingbourne.

In October 2019 a humpback whale died a day after being spotted lost in the River Thames between Crayford Ness and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford.

Members of the public had been following the mammal's movements and christened it Hessy.

Two other humpback whales were recorded in the Thames and wider Estuary region, but both died.

One was also found under the Dartford Bridge on September 12, 2009 and another floating off Sheerness on March 24, 2013.

Humpbacks are rarely seen in the Thames as they are far more likely to be off the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland.