A whale belonging to a pod of 40 trapped off the Essex coast has died.

Despite best efforts by Essex Police and volunteers from the British Divers' Marine Life Rescue, the pilot whale was recovered at Goldhanger yesterday afternoon.

The teams had been trying to herd the pilot whales out to sea.

It is understood the deceased whale had been sick when the pod came to the Essex coast and the others had been nursing it before its death.

The pod was first spotted near Brightlingsea and Mersea Island, on Tuesday.

PC Simon Lofting, of Essex Police, said the pod had made its way to Osea Island in the River Blackwater yesterday morning and the water was only 5ft deep.

He said: "We shot out to them as quickly as possible and had the water bailiff from Maldon, and the British Divers' Marine Life Rescue team with us."

The teams managed to herd the whales out of immediate danger, out to sea off Mersea, before the deceased creature was discovered hours later.

PC Lofting said the whales seemed to be encouraged to shallow waters by boats sailing near by.

He urged the public to keep at least 200 metres away from the creatures.

Anyone who spots the whales is asked to call the BDMLR on 01825 765546 during office hours, or 07787 433412 out-of-hours.