A DOG walker enjoying the golden sands of Roanhead made this discovery of a beached porpoise (pictured left).

Taissa Csaky, of Dalton-in-Furness, found the 5ft cetacean (the family that includes porpoises, dolphins and whales) lying on its belly not far from the car park at the coastal beauty spot near Barrow last week.

Bart Donato, of the English Nature maritime team based at Kendal, said the animal probably died a natural death.

"Porpoises are reasonably common off the Cumbrian coast. We get a dozen or so washed up every year," he said. "Some are killed by bottle nosed dolphins which attack them but that happens more off Scotland and Wales. If it's young it could be one that hasn't made it through the early autumn storms."

Porpoises are considered abundant on Britain's west coast, living off a diet of herring, mackerel, sprat, pollock, hake, sardines and even the occasional octopus.

Concerns have been raised that they have been affected by radioactive pollution from Sellafield. A 1999 study by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland and University College found that a sample of 25 Irish Sea porpoises did have higher levels of the radionuclide caesium-137 compared to those from the Atlantic, Celtic and North Seas.

However it concluded that the resulting radiation dose was unlikely to have damaged their health.