Avid Warrnambool whale watcher Peter Read said Warrnambool’s best chance for a whale likely to give birth this season, Odd Lips, had not been sighted since last Wednesday.

Odd Lips has brought a calf to Logans Beach twice before and visited Logans for about a week before she headed off last Wednesday.

Mr Read said on the two previous known occasions when Odd Lips had brought a calf to Logans Beach, 2009 and 2014, she had given birth elsewhere and brought the calf to Logans Beach to raise it.

In 2014, Odd Lips calved on the coast towards the South Australian border and brought the calf to Logans Beach for about a fortnight in September, Mr Read said.

But he said whales often calved in July at Logans and he remained hopeful Odd Lips would return with a baby this month.

Last year was a record whale season, with seven whale calves born in the sheltered waters around Warrnambool but this year is off to a much slower start.

Mr Read said big yearly variations in the number of whale births were common.