THE RECENT storms have taken its toll on a number of seabirds which are being washed up on Pembrokeshire beaches.

Following one of the stormiest winters on record, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales is reporting that wrecks of dead seabirds are now being recorded in Wales.

The Wildlife Trust, which manages the internationally important seabird islands of Skomer and Skokholm on the Pembrokeshire coast, says that following recent reports of wrecks on the English and French coasts, many are now also being reported from beaches like Newgale, Broad Haven and Ferryside.

Between them Skomer and Skokholm are home to over 20,000 puffins as well as around 28,000 guillemots and 9,000 razorbills, which makes up the most important colony of cliff nesting seabirds in southern Britain. There seems little doubt that many local birds are amongst the recent casualties at sea.

Skomer Wardens Ed Stubbings and Bee Büche visited Newgale beach on February 23 with local birders Anna and Steve Sutcliffe.

Ed Stubbings said: “We found around sixty dead seabirds, almost half were razorbills. Like wrecks of birds recorded elsewhere on the coast, many were clearly malnourished, and had suffered badly in the stormy conditions”.

This was confirmed by Pembrokeshire veterinary volunteer John Walmsley, whose post mortems clearly demonstrated the emaciated condition of the dead birds. Ed added: “One of the birds we found on the weekend had an individually marked ring on its leg which, when traced will reveal where the bird had come from. If anyone finds dead birds on the beach please look for metal rings and report the numbers to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)”.

Dr Lizzie Wilberforce, Conservation Manager with the Wildlife Trust, believes the unprecedented combination of threats facing our seabirds make them a priority for research. She said: “We are recording declines in breeding success of many colonies which we believe to be connected to climate change. Together with storm impacts and pollution events, we have reason to be very concerned for these iconic species.

“However, we are also seeing significant cuts to the funding that supports seabird research and monitoring, just when we need it most. Natural Resources Wales has withdrawn funding altogether from one forty year old programme of monitoring Skomer’s guillemots, led by the University of Sheffield, which generates absolutely critical data. The timing couldn’t be worse- we really need to understand how our birds are reacting to these threats if we are to be equipped to help them.”

Ed Stubbings went on to say: “We’re hoping to go back out to Skomer in the next couple of weeks in preparation for the coming season. We will be doing everything we can to assess the effects of recent events on our Pembrokeshire birds as the breeding season progresses, but we may not know the true impact for some months or even years.”

Please note if you find a dead bird with a metal ring on its leg please contact the B.T.O., if the bird has a geolocator attached to it please contact us.