Millions of small fish have been stranded on a beach in Wales in an incident that Natural Resources Wales has described as 'only nature at work'.
The huge number of sprats have washed ashore on the beach, causing quite a mess, but wildlife experts aren't particularly concerned as it's actually a fairly normal thing to happen.
You see, the shoals of fish can be chased ashore if they are swimming in panic to avoid a predator such as a seal.
After being chased into a shallow tidal pool, they can then become stranded therein once the tide turns and starts to go out.
For once, it's not some tale of tragedy and human-caused animal woe. This large shoal of sprats were probably just trying to escape and ended up getting themselves into deeper trouble.
Anyway, the sardine-like fish were discovered on Benar Beach in Gwynedd at some point over the weekend, and were discovered on Saturday by fisherman Aeron Griffith, who was gearing up for a fishing excursion of his own.
He said: "I went out to collect some bait for fishing with a friend, we went down the beach and realised all these fish had obviously got stuck in a pool. As the tide has gone out it's left very little water in the pool, and with that many millions of them they starved of oxygen.
"I knew what it was straight away as I saw thousands of seagulls which had been feeding on them, but didn't realise at how many fish there were until we got down there, it happens every year, but never seen it on that scale, there was literally millions and millions of them.
"It's a shame, but nothing goes to waste in the sea as something will eat it,. We ended up with a couple of carrier bags full of the fish, which is plenty to keep us going for bait all winter."
Hey, it's not all bad news then, right?
Natural Resources Wales tweeted: "Our officers received a report yesterday of a number of fish that have washed up on Benar beach, near Barmouth in North Wales.
"The calm seas this week means that larger predators, such as seals or mackerel can often end up chasing smaller fish all the way on to the sand.
"The fish in these bait balls then ground themselves on beaches in an effort to escape."
"Although it may appear worrying it is only nature at work. Thank you to everyone who got in touch to report this."
Well, as long as it's not some horrible environmental disaster. There's plenty more fish in the sea, after all.
Featured Image Credit: Picture ExclusiveTopics: UK News, Interesting, Weird, Animals, Wales