STORM CASUALTIES: RSPB News: Atlantic Seabird Tragedy - via Tony Whitehead

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Atlantic Seabird Tragedy

Winter storms kills at least 28,000 seabirds in the NE Atlantic

During February more than 1,000 dead seabirds were found around the coasts of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset in SW England.

Birds also washed up on beaches elsewhere around the UK (including 600 in Wales) and more than 1,000 have been recorded in the Channel Islands. 

Only a small proportion has been found alive.  Reports are still coming into the RSPB as birds continue to wash up. More than 20 different species have been recorded with the major casualties being auks (guillemots, razorbills and puffins) with smaller numbers of kittiwakes, gannets, fulmars, gulls and shags [Note One].

Massive seabird mortality was reported by RSPB’s partner organisation Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux  (LPO) along the coast of SW France (northern Bay of Biscay) where 21,567 dead (and 2,784 live birds), had been recorded ashore by the end of February, with reports of fishermen seeing dead birds `carpeting the sea’.  More than 200 dead seabirds (mostly guillemots) have been recorded on northern Spanish beaches.

Reports are still being collated but the combined recorded death toll is expected to exceed 28,000.  Other affected birds will have died at sea or ashore, unobserved and unrecorded.

Puffins have fared particularly badly, with more than 30 reported dead around the UK, 97 dead in the Channel Islands and 14,455 dead and 1086 live found on beaches in SW France.  These small birds can’t dive very deep to find their food and storm turbulence means fish are likely to move deeper in the water column to find calmer conditions.  Even if fish are still close enough to the surface for puffins, the RSPB says that feeding in storm-tossed seas must be akin to trying to see and catch fish inside a washing machine set on spin.

Most dead and live beached birds were `clean’ though a small proportion was oiled (for example more than 100 oiled birds reported from SW England beaches).  However the RSPB says that, while any oiled seabird is a concern, these mass deaths are not the result of a major pollution incident.  Post mortem and weighing of some corpses has shown that birds were very underweight and therefore starving [Note Two]. 

Dr Euan Dunn, RSPB principal marine advisor, said  "This seabird wreck, on a scale unprecedented in living memory, could have profound impacts on vulnerable seabird breeding colonies, including the Channel Islands and the Isles of Scilly, where puffins have a fragile toehold, and on Lundy, where puffins are starting to recover from near extinction."

"Following hot on the heels of last year's seabird wreck in the North Sea in which several thousand puffins died, we have genuine fears that increasing storminess associated with climate change will undermine our internationally important seabird populations.  Many of our seabirds are already under pressure because their staple summer diet of sandeels is in decline in response to sea warming, another result of climate change, which  is making it a struggle to find enough food for themselves and their chicks. Sea warming, along with winter storms, which make it hard for birds to find fish in continually turbulent seas, are inflicting a double whammy.”

"We can and do help seabirds on land by protecting their breeding sites and undertaking seabird recovery projects on islands.  But we must do everything in our power to protect our seabird populations at sea and make them and other marine life more resilient to the devastating effects of these `storm wrecks’ by designating marine protected areas (MPAs). MPAs can ensure that important foraging and other areas for seabirds at sea are protected and managed to give them a fighting chance.”

Roland Gauvain, Alderney Wildlife Trust Manager, who has helped coordinate the response to the incident across the Channel Islands, commented “Over the last 3 weeks we have seen more seabirds dead on our shores than we would expect in 5 to 10 years.  We know (from finding ringed birds) that birds washed up here belong to breeding populations from Wales to Scotland and beyond.  The scale and suddenness of this disaster, coming as it did in the midst of the seemingly endless storms, dramatically reinforces the dangers our wildlife faces from climatic events which seem likely to become increasingly common.  Here on Alderney, and within the Channel Islands as a whole, we are witnessing greater and greater pressures, from climate and human interaction, on some of our most charismatic wildlife.  The global threat of climate change has increasingly local impacts, something very apparent to those of us live on small islands.”

Advice for the members of the public who find dead seabirds can be found here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/362779-advice-seabirds-washed-up-on-south-west-beaches

ends

For further information and to arrange an interview, please contact:

Tony Whitehead, RSPB SW Press Officer, 01392 453754, 07872 414365

Grahame Madge, RSPB HQ Press Officer, 01767 693221, 07702 196902

Hi Res Photos available on request

Editors’ notes

Note One

Species reported affected to date:

Guillemot

Razorbill

Puffin

Kittiwake

Gannet

Black headed gull

Great black-backed gull

Lesser black-backed gull

Herring gull

Yellow-legged gull

Common gull

Mediterranean gull

Shag

Cormorant

Oystercatcher

Great skua

Manx shearwater

Little auk

Black-throated diver

Great northern diver

Great crested grebe

Also reported from SW France: Brunnich’s guillemot, storm petrel, red kite.

Note Two

For example, veterinary examination of a number of razorbills found dead in Pembrokeshire at the end of February showed all were emaciated.  On 2 March, 56 dead razorbills were found on Chesil Beach, Dorset – 44 of these were weighed and all found to be considerably below the average recorded weight for the species. Birds died because they had been unable to find enough food during the series of severe winter storms out in the NE Atlantic (the same storms which brought so much chaos and flooding to the UK mainland). Seabirds are of course designed to cope with life at sea but the severity and number of storms this winter simply overwhelmed them and birds succumbed to exhaustion and starvation.

Note Three

For more information on the effects of climate change: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/docs/WGIAR5_SPM_brochure_en.pdf

Note Four

The RSPB acknowledges the efforts of many organisations and individuals to record and report affected birds.  Particular thanks go to Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Marine Strandings Network, Devon Wildlife Trust, Dorset Wildlife Trust, RSPCA, South Devon Seabirds Trust, Alderney Wildlife Trust, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, BTO and the many members of the public who contacted RSPB with details of birds on beaches.

STORM CASUALTIES: Storms Cause Dead Birds To Wash Up On Beaches - RSPB

By Matt WhiteTue, 25 February 2014 3:15PM

The recent storms have caused many dead birds to wash up along the Island's coastline, according to the RSPB.

Keith Ballard from the RSPB's Brading Marshes Nature Reserve, said the charity had been conducting its annual beach bird survey, which had led to reports of dead birds on Island beaches.

Most were from the auk family, including guillemots, razorbills and in some cases, puffins.

Keith said:

"This was not unique to the Isle of Wight, dead birds have washed along the entire UK coastline and as far as France.

"The auk family spend most of their time out at sea and they only come inland to breed in the spring.

"Because we've had such a rough period of bad weather, it makes feeding for them very difficult, as they're battling the sea and struggling to find food.

"That can result in quite significant numbers of birds dying, in what's known as a wreck."

Anyone who finds a dead bird should contact the RSPCA.

http://www.iwradio.co.uk/articles/2014-02-25-storms-cause-dead-birds-to-wash-up-on-beaches---rspb

STORM CASUALTIES: Jersey seabird death toll 'at least 600 and growing'

More than 600 dead seabirds have now been found on Jersey's beaches, wildlife experts have confirmed.

The National Trust for Jersey organised a second count on Sunday to track the impact of recent storms.

For the second week about 130 birds were discovered dead. Experts put this down to them struggling for food in heavy wind and rain.

Wildlife experts are calling for the Channel Island governments to work to assess the scale of bird loss.

Dozens of volunteers answered a call to scour the island's coast on Sunday to collect some of the hundreds of dead birds which have washed up during the extreme weather early in February.

Cris Sellares, from the National Trust, said there were a total of 136 birds found and some specimens, such as local shags, an oiled razorbill, a kittiwake and some puffins were saved for post-mortem analysis.

She said: "It is one storm after another, after another, they can't feed in this weather, they get weak

"The impact of this storm will be felt across the UK and particularly our local birds like the shags. I think we will need to do a full review of the health of our breeding population this year."

Continued

STORM CASUALTIES: Fears for iconic seabirds as storms kill puffins and razorbills

Some puffins discovered on beaches in France are believed to be from Skomer

Record numbers of seabirds have been killed in the recent storms on the Welsh coast, raising concerns some species are at risk.

The birds, including razorbills and puffins, have been washed ashore on beaches across Wales.

The Wildlife Trust said many of the birds died from malnourishment because they found it difficult to find food during the storms.

An additional 11,000 puffins have perished in the storms in France.

The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales said many birds have been washed up on Welsh beaches including Newgale, Broad Haven and Ferryside.

The trust, which manages the important seabird islands of Skomer and Skokholm on the Pembrokeshire coast, said birds had been badly hit by the storms.

"The birds have struggled to feed, probably because the sea is so rough," said Skomer warden Ed Stubbings.

Read on

STORM CASUALTIES: Storms 'slaughter' kills over 21,000 birds on French coast

More than 21,000 sea birds have died since the end of January on France's Atlantic coast due to storms in the worst "slaughter" in a century, the national Bird Protection League (LPO) said Wednesday.

A total of 21,341 dead birds had been counted up to February 24 on the southwestern Basque coast and in Brittany in northwestern France, a statement said.

The worst affected species were the Atlantic Puffin, the Common Murre or Common Guillemot and the Razorbill, it said.

Nearly 2,800 were housed in bird protection shelters in these areas, the LPO said, adding that this was a provisional toll and the final numbers could be much higher.

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