Today I am going to share with you such a heartbreaking incident of birds dying due to sea pollution.

On the 29th of January 2013 the first 'sticky' bird (guillemot) arrived.   It was found at Coryton Cove, Dawlish, Devon and rescued by a kindly dog walker. Since that time many more auks, mostly guillemots were retrieved from beaches all along the south coast of England. Initially no one was able to identify the substance that coats these birds and is causing such distress.  Small feather sample  was given to a representative from the Environment Agency who handed it in to their laboratory for analysis to know what this sticky substance is. Later in Feb , the report concluded that the sticky substance is POLYISOBUTENE.  By feb all the birds have had one wash, but the sticky substance (identified at POLYISOBUTENE) refused to move completely. During the washing process Seabird trust was able to scrape the stuff from the birds' tails with their finger nails.    The tails of some of the birds were like beaver tails.   Also some birds had so much on their wings that they stuck to their bodies. The birds shown in one of the pictures below , have had a wash but still needed  further treatment. 

They were washed just 3 at a time, the  3 birds ,as shown in picture ,standing in front of the fan heater in the drying cage, they were feeling a little better after some of the stuff was removed. Later as on 20^th Feb 2013 the birds were progressing well, some more quickly than others and they were expected to  be released in about 2 weeks time. On 1^st March the first batch of guillemots were ready for release. 

Regretfully  second wave of birds coated with polyisobutene started to arrive on the 9th of April.   Till 16th April , Seabird trust  admitted 12 guillemots which were affected by this latest disaster. The first guillemot admitted to this Trust came from Seaton beach in Cornwall.   It was hoped that it would be  a one-off, but  approximately 400 have been reported washed up dead on beaches of south east Cornwall, plus another 100 or so that have been picked up alive.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust is calling for the public to help record the number of dead seabirds washing up along the south coast of Cornwall. They hope to fully understand the scale of the recent disaster and help support a future campaign to change the law managing pollution in our seas. The birds are covered in a sticky substance called polyisobutylene (PIB) which is  extremely hazardous to marine life such as seabirds, which dive down into the water to feed and then become covered in the sticky substance. This leads to immobilization, hyperthermia, starvation and eventually death. Whilst the exact source of this pollution is unknown, it is thought to have been flushed into the sea during cleaning of ship?s tanks or clearing ballast water.

It has been a terribly sad time for everyone seeing these beautiful birds washing up dead in horrific numbers along the coastline.

Urgent action is required to prevent PIB causing further death and destruction within the marine environment through its discharge into the sea. In this one incident, a whole generation of sea birds, of many species, has been wiped out, not to mention the young they would have had this year.

 Bin bags of dead birds collected from one beach is shown in the photo below (credit : Claire Wallerstein)

To say this is heart breaking is an understatement.  

Credit /source :Seabird trust , Cornwall wildlife trust , Friends of Portheras Coves

 

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