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Baby whale comes to London and eagles soar nationwide
A young minke whale has arrived in the Thames just in time to celebrate Sadiq Khan’s re-election, while in Norfolk Britain’s largest bird of prey, the white-tailed eagle, is being reintroduced after over a century of absence, writes PETER FROST

LAST week’s violent storms on the south and east coast seems to have separated a baby minke whale from its mother and drive the baby into the Thames.

Minke whale calves suckle for up to 10 months. Minkes measure up to nine feet (2.8 metres) at birth so it maybe our baby river whale was missing his mother’s milk.

The animal swam through London as far as Richmond Lock in south-west London last Sunday and became trapped on the lock’s rollers used by rowing boats to avoid using the lock. The plucky baby whale had swum further up the Thames than any whale had ever reached before.

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