Ten pilot whales have stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay.

Eight were still alive after becoming stranded on Tuesday, however, they were in “pretty good health”, Department of Conservation Golden Bay operations manager Ross Trotter said.

They received the report about 6.30pm on Tuesday about the stranding in an area known as Triangle Flat at the base of Farewell Spit.

Weather conditions on Wednesday were favourable with rain falling which would help keep the whales cool, he said.

Project Jonah and iwi were assisting DOC as they worked towards a possible refloat around 4.30pm prior to high tide at 5.15pm.

He said rescuers had not seen these whales at Farewell Spit previously. However, it was clear they had stranded in another location before.

“They are showing signs of having been sunburnt and have healed over, so possibly in the last few weeks they have been beached somewhere else.”

While there were many theories about why strandings happened so often at Farewell Spit, the shape of the bay was a possible factor, he said.

A pod of pilot whales was refloated several times in December.

Not all of them survived.

Among those that did, some were seen in the area even after being refloated again.

(Source: RNZ)