Seabird "Wreck" Spans Coasts Of Northwestern Europe; +/- 40,000 Dead, Starved & Sick Birds Washing Ashore
The two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them. Their breast bones were sticking out, they had no fat on them, and their muscles were wasted; the pair probably starved to death, unable to find enough food out in the Atlantic Ocean where they spend the winter.
“It was really sad – they’re such beautiful little birds, so charismatic,” says Rebecca Allen, from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, who was on a morning run when she spotted the carcasses. The scene is one reported from beaches all over Europe, with tens of thousands of seabirds washing ashore in the past few weeks. It is the biggest seabird “wreck” in Europe in a decade, with reports spanning thousands of miles of coastline from southern Portugal to the northern tip of Scotland.
Seabird wrecks occur when large numbers of dead or exhausted seabirds wash up on coastlines with no obvious cause of mortality. It is believed the latest dead seabirds – mainly puffins – died of starvation due to stormy weather in the Atlantic. Since January, a string of storms – including Goretti, Ingrid and Chandra – have battered coastlines. The effects are severe out in the open ocean, as well as on land. Puffins have been particularly affected as they hunt by sight and need clear water to find food. Rough seas make it difficult for them to do this. By the end of February, more than 300 puffins had washed up in Cornwall alone. Guillemots, razorbills and terns have also been recorded. Typically, there are 40 to 100 such reports for the whole year, according to Allen, who also runs the Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network, which relies on a network of volunteers to answer calls.
More than 38,000 birds have been found stranded along the Atlantic coast since the start of February. In France, which has the most comprehensive recording system, 32,000 bird strandings have been reported, with 5,000 in Spain and 1,200 in Portugal.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/04/starving-seabirds-stranded-biggest-wreck-decade-puffins-guillemots-razorbills-terns-aoe