I wrote this a little while ago but couldn't post it with all the internet and blog issues I was facing! With all the news of strandings and seabirds wrecks around the UK, France and Spain it seems quite fitting to post it now.
Recently a team of us have been out and about, trawling the beaches of Islay and looking for dead birds. This is all in aid of the annual UK beached bird survey which aims to record how many birds are found free of oil or oiled. The survey also takes note of the condition of the beaches and records birds that are still alive but weak or sick. Last year saw the fourth lowest density of birds found since 1991 but still found birds tangled in nets and fishing line and recorded many beaches littered with plastic and other debris. I’m sure a dirty beach is a sight everyone is unfortunately familiar with. Mary has already found a shag washed up with plastic stuck in it’s crop. We’ve also found two ringed razorbills washed up and sent the information to the BTO. We’re still waiting to find out where they were ringed and all coming up with our guesses for where they came from. Personally I’m hoping they travelled up from Skomer Island but I’m also aware that’s very unlikely!
As I mentioned at the start I’m sure it’s reached your attention that many seabirds have been found beached across France, Spain and the UK with more dead still out at sea. The numbers are growing daily and up to date reports about these wrecks can be found by looking through any search engine. It makes for very bleak reading.