My colleagues in Northern Ireland this week made a call for the public to be aware of and report any beached seabirds - every bit of information is valuable to better understand the impacts on our breeding and non-breeding populations. Winter is traditionally the season when birds are washed up either by pollution incidents or simply through natural mortality, for example as the result of stormy weather.
Today, I'm pleased to hand over this blog to another colleague, Hayley Webb, who coordinates the annual Beached Bird Survey for the East of England. Hayley explains what this years survey involves and how you can take part as BBS volunteers, wherever you are.
If you want a good physical indicator of the impacts that pollution has on the marine environment, bird mortality is it! Although we have thankfully seen a decline in chronic oil pollution in the North Sea in recent decades, stranded oiled seabirds along the tide lines of the British Isles are a clear signal that we are by no means out of the danger zone when it comes to the marine environment. Oil and other hazardous substances have the effect of waterlogging a bird’s feathers, causing death by cold, drowning or poisoning when a bird swallows the oil when cleaning its plumage – it can even effect embryo or chick development. Sounds horrific, doesn’t it? It is, but there is a way you can help.
Over the last 24 years, there has been an international effort to monitor the effects of oil pollution around the world’s coastlines and each and every stretch of beach monitored counts. The last weekend in February 2015 marks the next Beached Bird Survey where hundreds and hundreds of volunteers will take to the beaches around the UK to join in with this massive survey. Identifying the decline we have seen in North Sea chronic oil pollution has been made possible through surveys like the Beached Bird survey that records vital geographical and temporal patterns in oil pollution. Poorly know distributions and short lifespan of many marine mammals means it is very difficult to record such patterns of pollution accurately. Seabirds, on the other hand, are well monitored in many cases and years of research have meant that we are able to identify changes in population success and then try to find causes for it. It is very likely that without the hard work and dedication of our volunteers, the cost and manpower of a commercially run Beached Bird survey would not be feasible, which means each and every one of our volunteers for this survey count.
Photo: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
You don’t need to be a birding expert to take part, just the ability to walk your local coastline and basic seabird identification skills. We will ask you to take in some fresh air by walking maximum of 3-4 miles and back along the most recent high tide of your allocated stretch of sandy or pebbled beach and accurately report evidence of pollution and the number and species type of any ‘beached’ seabirds. All of the survey data our volunteers collect is then collated to create a big picture of the current state of the coastlines of the British Isles and can help us assess the impact that local, small scale oil pollution can have on the wider marine environment.
If you would like to be part of the Beached Bird Survey 2015 and help to make a real difference monitoring the health of our seabirds and the marine environment, please visit the volunteering section of our website here to search for Beached Bird Survey vacancies or contact your local regional office here.
Hayley Webb
Beached Bird Survey Co-ordinator for the East of England