Winter storms wreck seaBIRDS

Little Auk (John Oates)

Little Auk records in Wales (copyright Welsh Ornithological Society)

A Little Auk found swimming close inshore at Trearddur Bay for a few hours last week is an increasingly rare visitor to North Wales. It really is a small auk: at 165g (6.5oz), it is less than half the weight of a Puffin; the now-extinct Great Auk was almost 30 times heavier at 4.8kg (10.5lb). Little Auk colonies are circumpolar, the nearest in northern Iceland and the majority in Russian waters. They feed close to pack ice outside the breeding season, some venturing farther south into the Atlantic that can be pushed into the Irish Sea in stormy conditions. They used to be regular on autumn seawatches in North Wales, the largest count being 176 from Bardsey on 2 October 1981, but the few records in the last decade have been in winter when, tired and struggling to feed, several have been found dead or dying on beaches.

Storm-induced mass deaths of seabirds are known as “wrecks” and it appears that a significant event has unfolded in the Atlantic in recent weeks, victims washed up in southwest Britain, Portugal, Spain and France. It is estimated that 20,000 birds washed up in France alone, perhaps only 10% of the birds affected. Postmortems show all were in poor condition, starving to death. Many of the Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills may be from breeding colonies in Britain & Ireland. Seabirds are particularly vulnerable to the rapidly-warming climate, of which winter storms are one symptom. RSPB Cymru has called on Welsh Government to implement and fund the recommendations in its recently published Seabird Conservation Strategy. The Little Auk in Trearddur Bay bird was blown inland after a couple of hours, its fate unknown.
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Mild weather brought February migrants to North Wales: a Wheatear on the Great Orme on 27th and Sand Martins at RSPB Cors Ddyga on 28th, where nine Ruff fed among more than 2000 Golden Plovers and 1000 Lapwings. Six Velvet Scoters and a Surf Scoter were off Old Colwyn, the long-staying Lesser Yellowlegs on the Clwyd estuary, and Black Redstarts at Kinmel Bay and briefly at Gogarth on the Great Orme.

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