Eight dead sperm whales have died after they were washed up on a German beach today, taking the total number of dead whales to 23 after a devastating number of beachings during the past month across northern Europe.

The eight sperm whales found near the northern town of Friedrichskoog were young bulls, around the same age as the animals discovered three weeks ago at various North Sea spots.

They were lying close to each other in the mudflats of a restricted area of the Wadden Sea national park, the Schleswig-Holstein regional environmental authority said in a statement.

The majestic creatures are thought to have died at sea before beaching at Skegness in Lincolnshire and have since become something of a gory tourist attraction, with people taking selfies with the corpses and some scavengers even attempting to cut off ‘trophies’ from the creatures.

East Lindsey District Council Council workers covered up the bodies with sand to stop them being moved by the high tide and a spokesman confirmed they will then be taken to a landfill site.

‘We are well rehearsed when it comes to removing whales from the beach, we have had a few down the years including one which is bigger,’ a council spokesman said. ‘The whale at Lagoon Walk, which was further out on its own, moved overnight in the high tide so it is now further up the beach.

‘We are preparing to move the whales, but it won’t be today. Today, we are bringing in tractors to cover the whales in sand so they don’t move again.

‘Because there are three of them we need to find landfill that’s deep enough. We are almost there but we have to do it properly.

‘We are putting sand on them this afternoon because if we don’t they could move further along the beach where it might be more difficult to reach them.’

The bodies of the whales were cordoned off by council workers in a bid to protect the carcasses as they are examined by scientists trying to work out why they died.