By Cris Sellarés

In late March 2014, Jersey hit the mark of a thousand dead seabirds found on its shores; the Island total since reaching 1,022 with numbers in the Channel Islands overall to just under 1,300 birds.

In a regular winter we might expect between 10 and 40 dead seabirds on our shores over a few months, recorded by a few local birdwatchers that check the beaches regularly. But this year was different, and even when we did start to realise that things weren’t quite as usual, we never suspected we’d end up with over one thousand dead birds in Jersey alone. This kind of event with so many dead seabirds is known as a wreck.

It was late January when numbers began building up and we started finding dead birds by the dozens in single stretches of our coast. Other birds were found still alive and taken to the JSPCA. At the same time, members of the public started to report dead birds, asking why this was happening and wanting to help and become involved. A record system was set up with Dr Glyn Young from Durrell taking in the records via email, the Jerseybirds website or the Jersey Wildlife Facebook group. A protocol for photographing the carcasses and disposing of them was advised to the general public, so that the identification of the species could be confirmed and so that the same bird wasn’t reported again by another person.

As awareness of the wreck spread, more people started to look for birds to report. Predicting a surge of reports over the weekends, we set up a series of co-ordinated surveys on four consecutive Sundays. These searches involved a team of 25-30 volunteers checking sections of the Jersey coastline, collecting all the birds found and taking them to an arranged collection point, where carcasses were laid out, identified and examined. Much information was gained from these counts, as well as allowing many people see some bird species for the first time: such as razorbills, great northern divers, grebes, kittiwakes, and, of course, puffins, which were instantly recognizable with their tuxedo suits, short yellow feet and colourful beaks. Indeed it was a very sad occasion that many people commented on, that the first puffin they or their children had seen was a dead one on the beach.

With the numbers from surveys and individual reports piling up, a worrying picture started to develop, encompassing rare finds (common scoter, red-necked grebe, little auk) and ringed birds whose origin could be traced to colonies in Skomer Island, the Hebrides, Orkney, France and, for many shags, the Channel Islands.

Some birds that were examined post mortem were found to have drowned, starved, or both; while samples, frozen carcasses and photographic evidence were sent to various UK-based scientists to contribute towards their long-term research.

Many questions have arisen from this environmental disaster, here are some answers gathered from the scientific community.

What species have been affected?

Auks (guillemots, razorbills and puffins) made up the largest portion of the casualties, with significant numbers of shags, great northern divers, kittiwakes and gulls following behind. Here is a breakdown of the birds found in Jersey.

The combined total of all reported birds from the coasts of UK, France and Spain is a horrifying 32,156, which is a conservative minimum as many birds may have sunk in the oceans or been grounded on inaccessible shores. On top of that, news from France suggests this might still go up by 5,000 at least.

What is the cause of these deaths?

The unusual series of strong storms we saw this winter are to blame. Most seabirds spend these months at sea, moulting their flight feathers and feeding. The storms would have weakened them and make diving for fish difficult in high waves and 100mph winds. The effects of the storms did not cease after the bad weather, as the waters remained murky for many weeks, making fishing still difficult. Unfortunately, these storms have been predicted to increase in strength and frequency as part of new meteorological model accounting for climate change.

Thankfully, the number of reported birds has started to decrease as you can see on the graph. The columns in green mark survey dates, the ones in pink mark reports in bulk.

What effect will this have on seabird populations?

The effect this wreck has had on the populations of seabirds will only be seen when the survivors return to their breeding colonies in the UK, Scandinavia and other parts. Only then local researchers will be able to quantify the effect the storms have had on the breeding populations.

What are we doing about it?

Actions have been taken across the Channel Islands since news of the seabird wreck started to spread. In February a conference call was held between organizations and governments of the different Islands to discuss the findings and possible impacts on our breeding colonies. A few weeks later a workshop was organized by the Alderney Wildlife Trust that got together bird experts and vets from Guernsey, Jersey and France, to discuss survey methods and carcass examination techniques.

The Alderney Wildlife Trust has also set up a webpage (here) to report birds found on the beaches and thanks to them the links between the islands and France have become stronger. We have established common protocols to monitor beaches that will allow us to detect future events such as a seabird wreck or a pollution incident, as well as standardizing carcass examination and data collection.

Beyond dealing with the wreck itself, a call has been made to local governments to support an islands-wide survey of our local breeding colonies as well as to step up the current guidelines of protection of our colonies against human-caused disturbance, which is one of the main factors affecting their breeding success.

PS. This report had 1022 words, one for each dead bird found in Jersey.

From The Guardian

Some of the UK’s most familiar countryside birds have plummeted in numbers since the 1990s, and some species have disappeared from parts of the country altogether, according to the most recent authoritative annual report.

The turtle dove has declined by 95%, the yellow wagtail, which inhabits farm and wetland, has declined by 45% over the same period.

The State of the UK’s Birds report, from the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and several UK government nature bodies, shows that of the UK’s 107 most widespread and common breeding birds, 16 species have declined by more than a third since 1995, including the willow tit, starling, cuckoo, lapwing and wood warbler.

Many of these species do not require highly managed landscapes such as nature reserves or protected areas, but are once common birds that live in the “wider countryside”, in farmland, open country, commons, woodlands or local country parks.

Dr Mark Eaton, RSPB conservation scientist, said many contributors to the report were shocked at how poorly familiar species were faring. “Many of the birds we’re referring to aren’t rare and don’t occur in remote locations. To the contrary, they are ones you used to see while walking the dog or enjoying a family picnic. But over two decades many of these species have ebbed away from huge swaths of our countryside.”

The report has been running since 1999 and brings together the most recently published research, which is used to update population trends. This year’s report draws heavily on the findings of the BTO’s Bird Atlas 2007-11, which was published in 2013, a massive volunteer-led project that mapped changes in the patterns of distribution and abundance of 296 breeding and wintering bird species in Britain and Ireland.

By including the BTO findings, the report has for the first time in 20 years enabled conservationists to look at bird populations in terms of population trends and range. “The shocking thing when you put both sets of figures together is the decline in number and range,” said an RSPB spokesman. The list of familiar countryside birds that are declining includes:

• The turtle dove, a farmland bird with a 95% decline in numbers since 1995 and a 51% decline in range over the past 40 years

• The cuckoo, whose numbers have halved since 1995. The latest bird atlas reveals that although its range has contracted by just 8% over the past 40 years, there are marked declines in abundance in the south and east of Britain

• The whinchat, a bird of open countryside whose numbers have fallen by 60% since 1995, and in range by 48% over the past 40 years

• The starling, which lives in urban areas and farmland and whose population has decreased by 53% since 1995. The atlas reveals that its range has contracted by 5% over the past 40 years with a steep decline in abundance in Britain, and an increase in Northern Ireland

• The wood warbler, a summer-visiting woodland bird, which has dropped in number by 69% since 1995, and a range contraction of 34% since the 1970s

• The yellow wagtail, a bird of farmland and wetland that has experienced a 45% decline in numbers since 1995 and a 32% contraction in range

• The lapwing, a farm and wetland inhabitant whose numbers have dropped by 41% since 1995. The atlas reveals that the lapwing’s range has contracted by 18% over the past 40 years, with the greatest losses in western Britain and Northern Ireland

• The snipe, a wetland bird whose breeding range has shrunk by 31% over the past 40 years

• The corn bunting, a farmland bird whose population has declined by 34% since 1995. The atlas shows that its distribution has contracted by 56% over the past 40 years; and the species is now extinct in Ireland.

Colette Hall, species monitoring officer with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, said: “There’s worrying evidence here that the breeding ranges of many of our waders are drastically shrinking. We’re losing much-loved species like snipe or lapwing completely from southern parts of England now.”

A main cause is thought to be the loss of habitat due to wetlands being drained for farming or development, she said. “We need to protect and restore these habitats in order for species like these – and all wetland wildlife – to survive and prosper.”

The report also highlights some species that have seen significant population recoveries. Following its reintroduction into England and Scotland and its continuing recovery in Wales, red kite numbers have increased by 676% since 1995. Songbirds such as the goldfinch and blackcap have also increased their populations since 1995, by 109% and 133% respectively.

Phil Grice, Natural England’s senior ornithology specialist, said: “While we’ve made progress with reversing the declines in many of our rarer bird species, thanks to site management and species recovery work, improving the fortunes of our ‘wider countryside’ birds requires us to think beyond good management of our special sites.”

The report also looks at how birds are faring in the UK’s overseas territories. Although across these territories globally there are 32 species of bird facing extinction, the report shows that concerted conservation action has delivered benefits for species including the Ascension frigatebird and Murphy’s petrel.

David Stroud, of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, said: “The UK’s overseas territories contain more species of bird facing extinction than the whole of mainland Europe. Twenty-one of these species occur nowhere else in the world, so the UK has sole and total responsibility for them.”

Download the report for free here

From Alderney Wildlife Trust

The Alderney Wildlife Trust (AWT) and its patron Miranda Krestovnikoff are calling for a pan-Channel Island effort to increase monitoring and protection of the Channel Islands’ seabirds, in the aftermath of potentially the largest seabird disaster in recent years.

Europe’s seabirds face a losing battle this winter after back-to-back storms hit over-wintering birds off the western coast of Europe. The resultant massive loss of life is described as a ‘seabird wreck’ and has hit birds as they prepare to return to their breeding grounds. Given the timing of the wreck there is an increasing likelihood that birds from Channel Island colonies, many of which have been experiencing population declines and breeding failures in recent years, will be caught up in this latest disaster.

On Tuesday the French LPO released estimated figures for the Bay of Biscay, Brittany and Normandy of 11,000 birds dead or receiving treatment, of which 8,000 were thought to be puffins. Whilst French beaches were the first to be hit, the Normand-Breton coast and the Channel Islands have also experienced distressing signs of the ‘wreck’ (read more here). Jersey reports well over 400 and Alderney is at 44 dead birds, all recovered from the beaches in the last 10 and 8 days respectively. In Alderney the average reported number of dead seabirds recorded per annum is just 12, yet 15 birds were recorded in one day last week over only 200m of coastline, and not a single bird has as yet been found injured but still alive.

Speculation is rife as to why puffins have been so badly hit. However, as the puffin moulting season, when the birds are unable to fly, may well have coincided with the highpoint in the recent storms, this may well be a factor. Yet one fact is clear, given the time of year and the scale of the wreck birds from the Channel Islands and British breeding populations will be affected by this disaster, either killed directly or so malnourished that they struggle to breed successfully this year.

Monitoring of the impacts continues in all three main islands, with the States of Jersey and Guernsey accepting sightings reports of dead birds and the GSPCA and JSPCA responding to the increased number of exhausted survivors also present on those islands. A call on Wednesday for an island wide survey of Guernsey beaches on Saturday 22^nd, organized by the Guernsey Environment Department, with support from La Société Guernesiaise ornithology section, RSPB Guernsey and GSPCA following that undertaken last weekend in Jersey, has led to an immediate and passionate response. The results of this survey will be compiled and will be added to those collated by surveyors from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the National Trust for Jersey and the Alderney Wildlife Trust to give the Channel Islands a much clearer understanding of the impacts of the wreck. This pan-Channel Island response to the wreck is a good example of how government bodies, NGOs and volunteers can come together to respond to wildlife emergencies. Further links are also being established to share information and knowledge with UK and French bodies including the Groupe Ornithologique Normand (GONm).

But the AWT is urging islanders to recognise that this disaster will not be over when the bodies stop washing up on the beach. This is the 3^rd major wreck to have occurred which has impacted British seabird populations (two natural causes and one caused by PIB discharge). Seabirds are of great value to the Channel Islands, not only as an integral part of their ecosystems or as creatures of extraordinary grace and beauty, but also because they play an important role in the islands’ natural image. In 2013 the States of Alderney, in conjunction with the Alderney Wildlife Trust and Leeds Metropolitan University, undertook research into the value of environmental tourism to the island’s economy and this identified an estimated annual value of around £2.5 million.

As a result of these concerns, and given the growing number of ‘unusual’ weather events impacting the islands and their wildlife, the Alderney Wildlife Trust is – asking Channel Island governments and conservationists to support a pan-island effort to assess the status of its iconic seabirds.

The AWT is also asking for public support for the conservation and welfare organisations across the islands which are responding to the hugely increased pressures caused by the wreck. Volunteers and staff are daily faced with the task of nursing the increasing number of injured birds from the wreck, whilst dozens more face the grind of recovering the bodies of the dead birds and attempting to ensure information such as the origin, age (were the birds from breeding colonies), sex and health of the birds is recorded. Yet there is very little additional resources to assist in this work.

Going further Roland Gauvain, AWT Manager said:

‘We’re asking members of the public who really appreciate the need for the Channel Islands to respond together to the growing threat, to offer their support directly. You can offer your support by either by making a donation or by offering your time and effort  at  http://www.alderneywildlife.org/node/3662, or telephone 01481 822935’ 

Miranda Krestovnikoff – AWT Patron (President RSPB) said:

‘The incredible dedication of volunteers and staff of NGOs and Government from across the Channel Islands in their response to this natural crisis, is one of the reasons I have developed such an affinity with the islands. You love and value your wildlife and this is vital in the changing world we find ourselves in. Your massive effort clearly demonstrates what can be achieved by working together as islands.

Therefore, it is vitally important that the you do not allow joint effort cease once the bodies of birds finally stop appearing your  beaches; this event is unusual but there is a clear and increasing trend on ‘record’ weather events which is changing the nature of the British Isles. 

The ‘Channel Islands’ can and must pull together to protect your seabird populations, one of the your most vital natural resources, so that future generations of islanders and visitors can take pleasure from their puffins, shags and many other stunning birds.’

Channel Island Contacts

Alderney

Alderney Wildlife Trust  – Roland Gauvain (Trust Manager) manager@alderneywildlife.org /  +44 (0) 1481 822935

Guernsey

States of Guernsey Environment Department – Janice Dockerill (Environment Services Officer; Communications) env@gov.gg / Tel.  +44 (0) 1481 717026

Jersey

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust –  Glyn Young (Conservation Biologist) Glyn.Young@durrell.org /  Tel: +44 (0)1534 860000
Department of the Environment – John Pinel  j.pinel@gov.je Tel. 00 44 (0)1534 441634