OUTDOORS lover Jessica Winder is waiting to hear test results from a dead dolphin she found washed ashore.

Jessica, of Charlton Down, spotted the baby Risso’s dolphin on the beach at Chesil Cove on Portland.

She is now waiting to hear from the Natural History Museum about how the dolphin died after it was taken away for tests.

Jessica, who is a keen photographer and blogger, said: “It was so incredible.

“It was so fresh, rubbery and smooth, like a toy or something. It was very beautiful, small and undamaged.”

She added: “I almost thought it was alive when I saw it.

“It must only have just died.”

The 1.3-metre-long animal was a Risso’s dolphin, which doesn’t have the beak of the more familiar bottlenose or common varieties.

Jessica alerted colleagues on the Strandlines and Beachcombing page of Facebook and was also in contact with marine biologist Steve Trewhella.

The Natural History Museum was notified, as stranded sea mammals must be recorded.

Jessica was told by fellow enthusiasts that the creature looked as if it had just been born and had died within 24 hours.

She thinks that it may have drowned after being unable to come up for air through masses of seaweed, although it may have been killed by a virus.

“All that week there was a huge swell around Portland.

“There were great big rafts of kelp and seaweed floating around.”

Dolphins have been washed up at the cove before, including one in the wake of the MSC Napoli disaster.

Jessica is a nature photographer as well as a consultant who researches and reports on marine mollusc shells from archaeological excavations.

She wrote about the discovery on natureinfocus.wordpress.com n james.tourgout@dorsetecho.co.uk