Scientists are trying to figure out why many of the birds are being found as ‘little more than skin and bone’gazettelive

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An “unprecedented” number of seabirds are being found dead or hungry on Teesside’s beaches, as well as across the remainder of the north east coastline.

Over recent weeks, there’s been a rise in residents reporting carcasses along the beach at Seaton Carew and at Hartlepool ‘s Headland.

Scientists are busy trying to figure out why these marine birds, such as guillemots, appear to be dying from starvation at an “unheard” of rate.

Go here for more Hartlepool news and updates from Hartlepool Live

Jacky Watson, the Wilder Coast officer at the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, has received a “rise in local reports of dead seabirds over the last month.”

She added: “We’ve seen a lot of people posting on Facebook or getting in touch with us directly with reports of dead guillemots and other birds, and this pattern is mirrored across the North East.”

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has ruled out bird flu but is investigating other possible causes such as poisoning from algal blooms.

CEH ecologist Dr Francis Daunt said: “We are seeing unprecedented numbers of guillemots dying for the time of year, over a huge area of the Eastern UK coast from Norfolk to Orkney.NerdWalletThe Best Way To Wipe Out Up To $10,000 Of DebtNerdWallet NMLS ID# 1617539Want your dream home? Start with a dream mortgageby TaboolaSponsored Links

“We are also seeing very unusual behaviour. Birds have been seen feeding very close to beaches in amongst swimmers, when normally they steer clear of people, and have been observed up to 20 miles up rivers, which is unheard of for this marine bird.

“These are signs that the birds are getting desperate in their search for food. The dead birds are little more than skin and bone with many half their usual weight, which is catastrophically low. So it appears that the birds are dying from starvation.”

Dr Daunt said the fact that the birds appeared to be starving “might suggest a lack of good quality fish in the sea” but the presence of many feeding flocks along the coasts suggested it was “caused by something else”.

They added: “We have tested 10 birds for avian flu, all of which came back negative, and we are now looking at the possibility of toxic poisoning from algal blooms.”

A worried resident, Geoff Lilley, reported he had seen “six new dead razor bills at least on Seaton Carew beach this morning, and 20 on a two mile stretch of beach over the last 5 days.

He explained: “I usually fine the odd one, especially after a storm, but this is unheard of. There’s something significantly wrong.

“I know this has been an issue all along the north sea coast from the north of Scotland down as far as the Humber.”

The Tees Valley Wildlife Trust said they will be “watching the situation closely”.

Jacky continued: “At first people were saying it was normal, because a big weather event can affect the amount of birds dying.

“However, researchers who have recovered the carcasses are saying it’s not a storm weather event.

“A lot of them are underweight and in a very bad way. We are worried and want to know what’s going.https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazettelive.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fteesside-news%2Fsomething-significantly-wrong-unprecedented-number-21617127&cre=center&cip=24&view=web

“Is there something wrong in the food chain? Or is it something else?”

The CEH is now recording the number and location of all dead birds and will carry out post-mortem examinations on their bodies.https://cd9ce57483f69a3c275ec4cc00a70ef1.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html138212091369https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gazettelive.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fteesside-news%2Fsomething-significantly-wrong-unprecedented-number-21617127&cre=mr-bottom&cip=1&view=web&ignoreMetaDataCheck=true

The advice from the trust is to report the birds to Defra to help “build a more complete picture”, but not to touch them.

The number for the Defra helpline is 03459 33 55 77.