GSPCA sees more than 200 birds after storm

The animal shelter has seen seabirds and garden birds, with the highest number being guillemots.

‘We’ve had 25 guillemots, four herons, one razorbill and a number of pigeons, mapgies, kestrels and thrushes,’ said GSPCA manager Steve Byrne.

‘We’ve had some unusual ones like terns and storm petrels, but we don’t know why they were here,’ he said.

He said that the influx of poorly and potentially dead birds were due to the long period of stormy weather since November, and he expected that there were definitely more to come.

Birds and seabirds have been found poorly or dead across the Channel Islands, with more than 100 seabirds washing up dead in Jersey.

Puffins have been found among the dead birds washed up in Jersey.

‘We don’t typically see puffins as much as Jersey do, puffins in Jersey nest much closer to their coastline than Guernsey puffins do,’ said Mr Byrne.

‘It is extremely unlikely that by the time poorly puffins get closer to us that they would survive.’

Birds will typically get ill when poor weather churns up oil from the sea which can coat their feathers, which prevents them from maintaining their waterproofing and warmth.

‘Everyday we’re getting poorly birds and other land animals, this could be down to illnesses, or a car hitting a bird,’ Mr Byrne said.

‘My advice, if you come across a poorly animal, is to give us a call.

‘If somebody just walks up to an animal without prior knowledge they could scare the animal away and put them in more danger,’ he said.

Ian Le Page of the RSPB said that the public should leave poorly and dead birds to the experts.

‘I’d say don’t touch the dead ones especially, they could have any number of diseases.

‘Call the animal shelter if they’re dead or alive,’ he said.

‘Stormy weather is always going to have an effect on wildlife.

‘Oil gets churned up in the sea which obviously is not good for any wildlife.’

More bad weather is expected in the coming days, before some sunshine is finally expected early next week.