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Puffins ‘hit hard’ by last winter’s storms

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Seafood snack: Adult Puffin with his lunch

Seafood snack: Adult Puffin with his lunch

AS the first storms of the winter turn the Atlantic into a gargantuan washing machine, research is revealing the harsh consequences of last winter’s storms for seabirds in Wales. Dr Matt Wood, from the University of Gloucestershire, is helping to uncover the consequences for thousands of puffins on Skomer Island, in Wales. Around 50,000 dead seabirds, including puffins, guillemots and razorbills, were washed ashore in a severely emaciated state – they’d basically starved as storm after storm prevented them from catching enough fish to eat.

With unknown numbers dying out at sea, this was the biggest seabird wreck recorded in Europe. By the end of 2014’s breeding season, the numbers of adult puffins returning breed was down by 25% on the previous year: a quarter of the puffins on Skomer and Skokholm islands may have died, around 5,000 birds. “Puffins typically live in large island colonies, seabird cities if you like,” said Dr Wood. “Now take a city like Cardiff and imagine what would happen if a quarter of people didn’t come back after the Christmas holidays, by mid-January things would be going seriously wrong, and it looks like that’s what happened to the puffins”.

Field assistant Ros Green found that Skomer puffins bred unusually late, their chicks hatching two weeks later than usual and being fed at only a third of the rate in 2013. As a result, breeding success dropped markedly by 25%, with only just over half of puffin pairs raising a chick. This was the worst year on record for puffins on Skomer, in the 43 years of the study (since 1972).

“The long-term seabird studies on Skomer are an amazing resource. One of the puffins that was still around until recently was first seen in 1973, the year I was born,” Matt said. “With studies like this, with birds we know and study as individuals, we can understand how populations work in the detail we need to face the challenges of the future.

Will more storms impact seabird populations? I’d say ‘probably, yes’, but it’ll take us years to get a true picture of what happened in 2014, and only long-term monitoring at key sites like Skomer can provide reliable answers to questions like that.” Long-lived seabirds like puffins can take a gap year if times are tough, but Matt believes that the numbers of birds washed up dead on beaches last winter are little cause for optimism.

Matt added: “Seabird wrecks are not unprecedented, these are tough little birds that can usually cope with a storm, but forecasts of global climate change predict that these extreme storms will become bigger and more frequent. The effects of the recent seabird wreck will only become clear over the next five to ten years: longterm studies are vital to understand how the populations will cope in the Seafood snack: Adult Puffin with his lunch long-term”

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Closure of Tata Steel’s coke ovens sparks political and union backlash

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THE recent announcement by Tata Steel to close the coke ovens at its Port Talbot plant in South Wales has ignited a firestorm of political and industrial action, highlighting the deepening crisis within the British steel industry and the challenges facing the transition to green steel.

Jo Stevens MP, the Shadow Welsh Secretary, expressed her concerns over the impact of the closure on the Welsh steel industry and the workers affected. Stevens emphasized the need for assurances about the workers’ immediate future and pledged that a UK Labour government would invest in the steel industry to support the transition to green steel, harnessing the skills, talent, and ambition of Welsh steelworkers.

The closure, slated for Wednesday due to concerns over the ovens’ “operational stability,” has been criticized by regional Senedd Members for South Wales West, Tom Giffard MS, and Dr. Altaf Hussain MS. They accused the Labour Welsh Government of neglecting its support for the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot, highlighting a lack of financial assistance since 2019 and calling for a change in response to the current developments.

Unite, the UK’s leading union, has been vocal in its opposition to Tata’s decision, describing it as a shock and a “result of years of betrayal.” The union criticized Tata for not disclosing the imminent risk of closure during recent consultations and announced a ballot for industrial action among 1,500 Tata workers. Unite insists there should be no job losses at Port Talbot or Llanwern and that a blast furnace should remain operational.

Peter Hughes, Unite’s regional secretary for Wales, called for Tata to halt its closure plans in anticipation of Labour’s promised £3 billion investment to rejuvenate the UK steel industry. He accused Tata of managing the decline of UK steel while accepting government subsidies, describing the company’s actions as “deliberate industrial vandalism.”

The closure has not only raised concerns about the future of steel production in the UK but also spotlighted the political and economic strategies required to ensure the industry’s survival and transition towards more sustainable practices. The unfolding situation underscores the need for a collaborative approach between the government, industry stakeholders, and the workforce to navigate the complex challenges ahead.

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Firefighters tackle blaze at block of garages in Monkton

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ONE person was injured as a result of a sunday afternoon garage fire in a block of garages in Monkton.

A spokesperson for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service told The Pembrokeshire Herald said: “At 1.31pm on March 17, Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven crews were called to extinguish a fire in an alight central garage and were forced to use two breathing apparatus and two hose reels.

“The firefighters reportedly left the scene at 3.02pm after continuing to dampen the fire and check for fire spread.

“The casualty was treated by ambulance service personnel also in attendance.”

The police confirmed that a garage fire had been dealt with by Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service and Welsh Ambulance Service attended.

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Air ambulance called following incident at Aldi Pembroke Dock

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THE WALES AIR AMBULANCE, along with the Welsh Ambulance Service and police were called on Monday morning to an incident at the Aldi supermarket car park in Pembroke Dock.

The Herald understands that the alarm was raised after a car hit a person in the car park after 9am.

We have been told that the incident involved a local taxi.

The emergency services have been asked for a comment.

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