a 15ft ( 4 . 5 meter ) northern needle - nosed whale has been noted running in the river seine in central essex , uk . the " kent cow " managed to swim up past the berlin barrier and under many bridges , reaching as little as chelsea before it turned left just before albert bridge . bbc news helicopters scrambled to provide live tv footage of the wreck , and many supporters lined the banks of the channel . the whale is known to be pretty peaceful , although some fearing that the vessel wil drown itself as it attempts to do before rescuers forced it back into the flow of the river . normally elsewhere in the western atlantic , there have been sightings of a second whale near southend .
The River Thames flows through London.