The seabird wreck in the Bay of Biscay and South-Western Approaches in 2014: A review of reported mortality

Abstract

Between December 2013 and February 2014, a series of storm events occurred in areas of the North Atlantic frequented by migratory seabirds. Prolonged exposure to sustained storm conditions was followed by an unprecedented level of seabird mortality, apparently due to starvation, exhaustion and drowning. A total of 54,982 wrecked birds was recorded along European coastlines of the North-East Atlantic over the winter; 94% of which were dead. The majority of birds found were recorded on the French coastline (79.6%), and the most impacted species was the Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica (53.5%). In this paper, we describe the conditions surrounding this wreck event and report the numbers of wrecked and stranded seabirds by combining reports from multiple affected countries.

Full text

SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
The seabird wreck in the Bay of Biscay
and Southwest Approaches in 2014: A
review of reported mortality
Tim I. Morley1*, Annette L. Fayet2, Helene Jessop3, Paul Veron4, Merlin Veron5,
Jacquie Clark6and Matt J. Wood7
* Correspondence author. Email: t.i.m-eee09@hotmail.co.uk
1Alderney Wildlife Trust, Slades, 48 Victoria Street, Alderney, GY9 3TA,
Channel Islands;
2Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK;
3RSPB, Keble House, Southernay Gardens, Exeter, Devon, EX1 1NT, UK;
4Mermaid Cottage, Mannez Lighthouse, Alderney, GY9 3YJ, Channel Islands;
5Le Grand Verger, Rue Des Marais, Vale, Guernsey, GY6 8AU, Channel Islands;
6British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, IP24 2PU, UK;
7School of Natural & Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire,
Cheltenham GL50 4AZ, UK.
Abstract
Between December 2013 and February 2014, a series of storm events occurred in
areas of the North Atlantic frequented by migratory seabirds. Prolonged exposure
to sustained storm conditions was followed by an unprecedented level of seabird
mortality, apparently due to starvation, exhaustion and drowning. A total of 54,982
wrecked birds was recorded along European coastlines of the northeast Atlantic
over the winter; 94% of which were dead. The majority of birds found were
recorded on the French coastline (79.6%), and the most impacted species was the
Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica (53.6%). In this paper, we describe the conditions
surrounding this wreck event and report the numbers of wrecked and stranded
seabirds by combining reports from multiple affected countries.
Introduction
Seabird wrecks occur when large numbers of dead, injured or exhausted seabirds
wash up on coastlines with no obvious cause of death (Birkhead 2014). Such
events are extremely hard to quantify because most mortality occurs at sea. Even
when birds do wash ashore they often do so in inaccessible locations, such as at
the bottom of steep cliff shorelines. Despite these challenges, it is important to
attempt to quantify the magnitude of wreck events and put them into context
with other wrecks to inform long-term studies of seabird population dynamics,
because they can have large impacts on seabird populations (Votier et al. 2005,
2008; Mesquita et al. 2015).
Between December 2013 and February 2014 a succession of extreme and persistent
weather events generated such severe conditions that a number of seabird species,
usually wintering in the open ocean, were adversely affected. Although no individual

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Table 1. Known survey effort within affected areas.
Country Date Location Distance Source
United Kingdom 22–23 February Accessible coastline 1,984 km Schmitt 2014
throughout the UK
excluding the southwest
England region*
Channel Islands: Regular surveys 6.51 km of 77.18 km total Broadhurst &
Alderney from 10 February accessible Morley 2014
to 22 March coastline
Channel Islands: 22 February Accessible 96 km total C. Veron, pers. comm.
Guernsey to 8 March coastline
Channel Islands: 16–23 February, Accessible Variations in personnel G. Young &
Jersey 2–9 March coastline make total distance C. Sellares,
incalculable pers. comm.
France Six weekends from French Atlantic Surveys conducted Farque et al.
1 February to coastline across 2,773.7 km but 2014
9 March 2014 not all was accessible
Spain Some areas regular, Atlantic and Varying effort in C. Torrell,
others intermittent northern Spanish different locations pers. comm.
coastlines makes distance
incalculable
Portugal 14–27 March 12.7 km of accessible 22.7 km total T. van Nus,
coastline between pers comm.
Sao Jacinto and Torreira,
northwest Portugal
* SW region could not be surveyed on the designated days due to weather
storm was an exceptional event, the clustering and persistence of the storms was
highly unusual (Slingo et al. 2014). The storms occurred from the first week of
December 2013, through January and into early February 2014 causing record wind
gusts (> 60 knots) and rainfall in the UK (Slingo et al. 2014). A notable feature of
the storms was the long peak wave period and high wave height, resulting in waves
carrying a large amount of energy causing substantial damage to northeast Atlantic
coasts; presumably conditions at sea for wintering seabirds must have been similarly
extreme. Conditions also included an unusually strong North Atlantic jet stream and
a prolonged series of storm events, with winds gusting in excess of 100 mph; the
worst recorded for a century (Slingo et al. 2014).
Tracking studies have shown that several seabird species including Atlantic Puffin
Fratercula arctica, hereafter ‘Puffin’ (Guilford et al. 2011; Jessopp et al. 2013; Fayet
et al. 2016), Common Guillemot Uria aalge, hereafter ‘Guillemot’ (Stone et al.
1995), Northern Gannets Morus bassanus, hereafter ‘Gannet’, from the UK and
Norway (Veron & Lawlor 2009; Fort et al. 2012), and Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa
tridactyla, hereafter ‘Kittiwake’, from Western Europe (Frederiksen et al. 2012),
would have been in the Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay and/or western English Channel

SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
during late winter (January–February), and therefore at risk of being affected by the
storm events during this period. Large numbers of dead and injured seabirds were
subsequently washed ashore over much of the northeast Atlantic coast of Europe,
as ocean currents and wind carried dead and moribund birds ashore.
This paper attempts to give a detailed report of the mortality associated with the
2013/14 seabird wreck by combining beached bird surveys from across the entire
affected area. Information will be provided on the origin of the species most
affected by the wreck using ring recovery data; note that data were available from
the UK only for this review. We also report evidence on cause of death from post-
mortem examinations of dead seabirds.
Methods
Survey of stranded seabirds: The methods used by different organisations or
volunteers in different countries were sufficiently similar to warrant comparison.
Typically, a designated route along an accessible coastal area, usually sandy beaches
but including all accessible coastline habitats, is walked by surveyors standing a
distance apart that allows the maximum amount of beach area to be covered in one
transect as they scanned the location for specimens. This methodology accords very
closely with that of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ (RSPB) ‘Beached
Bird Survey’ which coincided with the 2013/14 wreck, conducted on its annual
schedule in the UK on 22–23 February (Schmitt 2014). Not all surveys in all areas
of the UK (Figure 1) would have been through the RSPB scheme, due to the reactive
approach to seabird wrecks, but many of them were (Table 1).
Besides the survey effort described in Table 1, additional data were gathered from
members of the public. These records were subsequently confirmed and verified
by the relevant organisation, minimising the chances of double-counting
individuals by cross-checking against previous reports from the same location and
confirming identification from photos where available. All these data are included
in the totals given. Despite the coordinated Beached Bird Survey in parts of the
UK and France, and continued major survey effort across multiple locations
providing a considerable amount of data on the seabird wreck, the challenges
involved in collating and continuing surveys across such a large area, the varying
search effort between organisations around the period of the wreck, the discovery
of only a proportion of the fatalities occurring at sea and the varying time that
different species of seabird corpses will remain afloat, are likely to result in a
substantial underestimation of mortality.
Post-mortem examinations: To determine cause of death, staff from the Groupe
Ornithologique Normand, Alderney Wildlife Trust and Alderney Animal Welfare
conducted a necropsy workshop in Alderney on 22–23 March 2014. Subcutaneous
fat (between the feathers on the breast), fat deposits around the distal part of the
gut, curvature of pectoral muscle extending from the sternum and presence of
spume in the lungs were recorded, alongside general information on the state of the
specimens, to determine any potential cause of death (Broadhurst & Morley 2014).

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Ringing recoveries: Ringing recoveries reported to the British Trust for
Ornithology (BTO) over the wreck period were analysed. Only recoveries
occurring between December 2013 and March 2014 were included. We limited
the analysis to the recoveries made in the area affected by the storms, including
the French, Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic coasts, the coast along the English
Figure 1. Location of survey areas recorded during the seabird wreck event (red line).
05001,000250
km
N

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26
Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Results
Estimates of mortality: In total, 54,982 birds were found during the survey
period; of these 3,243 (5.9%) were live birds. The majority of the birds was found
in France (79.6%) and Puffins were by far the species most impacted (53.6%;
Table 2). Of the live birds retrieved, 3,014 (93%) were found in France, most likely
due to currents and proximity to this coastline during the storm events. Of these
a third subsequently died in transit, a third died in care and a third were
successfully released back into the wild (Farque et al. 2014). The only other
locations in which live birds were recorded were in Guernsey (18 Guillemots and
one Gannet), southwest England (209 birds) and Wales (one Guillemot).
Channel, and the Irish and British coast of the Celtic and Irish Seas (Figure 1).
Note, all recoveries originated from British colonies (Figure 2). Causes of death for
inland recoveries are uncertain, with factors other than the storms potentially
impacting the birds, whilst the death of many birds recovered during the time
period of the wreck was not linked to the storms (e.g. disease or shot); all these
recoveries were excluded from the results.
Figure 2. Origin colonies of ring recoveries recorded on the northeast Atlantic coast of Europe between
December 2013 and March 2014, for the four main species affected (Puffin Fratercula arctica, Guillemot Uria
aalge, Razorbill Alca torda and Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis); colonies with more than one recovery labelled.
015030075 km
N
Lunga
Port Ban
Fair Isle
Sule Skerry
Leac Buidhe
Isle of May
Faraid Head
Calf of Man
Ailsa Craig
Sanda Island
Great Saltee
Garbh Eilean
Castle Craig
Skomer Island
Puffin Island
Porth Ysgaden
Lambay Island
Isle of Canna
Great Skellig
Ceann Ousdale
Bardsey Island Ynys Gwylan Islands
Number of recoveries
1–2
3–8
9–24
25–61
62–157
Pen y Parc

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Table 2. Numbers of wrecked seabirds (live strandings and dead birds combined) recorded on the northeast
Atlantic coast of Europe from January to April 2014.
Channel SW Rest of UK
Species Portugal Spain France Islands England Wales & Ireland1Total
Gannet 5 67 305 8 33 54427
Fulmar 14131 43 7 15 165
Shag 12 47 110 22 10192
Kittiwake 5 51 868 31 29 20 73 1,077
Puffin 121 277 28,745 119 115 25 42 29,444
Razorbill 9 99 1,197 468 902 234 911 3,820
Guillemot 0 1,538 11,801 441 1,311 139 713 15,943
Auk spp. 1 85 254 16 590 22950
Other seabirds 14 105 229 43 53 7 33 484
Non-seabirds 6 12 176 48 50 5 252
Unidentified 13 022762217 1,729 2,228
Total 163 2,253 43,753 1,290 3,339 657 3,527 54,982
1Region encompasses data from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Shetland and England (except the southwest region).
2Value includes 209 live birds retrieved but species composition was not recorded, likely mostly auks.
Post-mortem examinations: Necropsy analyses conducted on a sample of 12
Guillemots in Alderney showed that 58% had emaciated pectoral muscles, 92%
had no stomach contents (no data available for the final bird), 83% had no fat on
the chest and 50% had some or no fat in the intestine, indicating that starvation
was the most likely cause of death (Broadhurst & Morley 2014). In addition,
specimens of Guillemot and Razorbill Alca torda, hereafter ‘Razorbill’, were
collected on Chesil Beach, Dorset, on 2 March 2014 (P. Read pers. comm.). Although
data on time since stranding were unavailable, the mean (± SD) masses were 451.9
± 53.9 g (n = 44) for the Razorbills and 601.5 ± 85.5 g (n = 17) for the Guillemots.
Winter weight of healthy individuals is difficult to attain, but Guillemots are likely
in the range of 900–1,200 g (Hope Jones et al. 1984). Values for Razorbill are harder
to come by still but likely higher than the average weight of the wreck individuals.
Furthermore, live birds collected in France were emaciated and extremely weak,
typically weighing less than half that of a healthy adult (O. Le Gall, pers. comm.).
The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) also necropsied 27
seabirds from the wreck, primarily Razorbills and Guillemots, all of which were
emaciated (AHVLA 2014). The presence of spume (frothy water) in the lungs was
noted by the AHVLA (AHVLA 2014) and recorded in three specimens in the
Alderney Guillemot autopsy (Broadhurst & Morley 2014).
Finally, only 10 (3.3%) out of 300 wrecked Puffins whose wings were examined were in
moult to such an extent that they would have been flightless (M.P. Harris pers. comm.).
Ring recovery data: Since the first recovery of a ringed Puffin was made in
1935/36, the BTO have recorded an average of 11.5 recoveries of ringed Puffins
washed ashore dead in the UK per winter (November to April) up until 2012/13; a
maximum of 127 recoveries were reported in the winter of 1982/83. Additionally,

SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
28
Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
recoveries of dead ringed Puffins from France and Spain would normally equal two
or three a year (Grantham & Stancliffe 2014). However, during the wreck, 631
ringed birds were recovered, including 216 Puffins, of which 205 were from France
(Tables 3 and 4). The recoveries were spread across the entire impacted area, but
Table 3. Recovery locations of ringed seabirds found wrecked on the northeast Atlantic coast of Europe
between December 2013 and March 2014, as registered by the British Trust for Ornithology.
Channel UK &
Species Portugal Spain France Islands Ireland Total
Gannet 112 6 10
Fulmar 22
Shag 50 50
Cormorant 11 9 11
Kittiwake 178
Herring Gull 77
Great Black-backed Gull 44
Lesser Black-backed Gull 21 3
Black-headed Gull 44
Puffin 15205 14 216
Razorbill 1226 1 126 156
Guillemot 6 90 3 44 143
Black Guillemot 17 17
Total 5 17 324 5 280 631
Table 4. Ringing locations of ringed seabirds wrecked on the northeast Atlantic coast of Europe between
December 2013 and March 2014, as registered by the British Trust for Ornithology.
Northern
Ireland and Isle of Rest of
Species Ireland England Scotland Wales Man Europe* Total
Gannet 441110
Fulmar 112
Shag 72427 10 50
Cormorant 2126 11
Kittiwake 21 5 8
Herring Gull 2113 7
Great Black-backed Gull 44
Lesser Black-backed Gull 12 3
Black-headed Gull 11 2 4
Puffin 5 196 15 216
Razorbill 29 72 50 5 156
Guillemot 29 74 40 143
Black Guillemot 11 6 17
Total 89 13 357 141 18 13 631
* Including data from Belgium, France, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
Figure 3 (overleaf). Colony origin of ringed auks and Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis (for colonies contributing
more than 5 recoveries) recovered on the northeast Atlantic coast of Europe between December 2013 and
March 2014, as registered by the British Trust for Ornithology.

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Garbh Eilean
Skomer
Lunga
Sule Skerry
0250500125
km
N
3a) Puffin

SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
30
Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Great Saltee
Skomer
Canna
Puffin Island
Sanda
0250500125
km
N
3b) Guillemot

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Garbh Eilean
Great Saltee
Skomer
Canna
Lunga
Bardsey
Puffin Island
Sanda
Calf of Man
0250500125
km
N
3c) Razorbill

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Calf of Man
Lambay
Puffin Island
Ynys Gwyland
Porth Ysgaden
N
0 100 20050
km
3d) Shag

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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
certain UK colonies were seemingly represented in higher numbers than others
(Figures 2 and 3). Data were filtered to remove any ring recoveries during the wreck
time period that were not attributable to the storm conditions; therefore, we only
included recoveries of birds with ‘unknown’ (53.57%) or ‘natural’ (42.95%; predom-
inantly attributed to ‘violent weather’) recorded as the cause of death. Ring
recoveries of oiled birds (3.49%) were also recorded within the wreck event as
specimens from other locations showed signs of oiling without it necessarily being
the final cause of mortality (AHVLA 2014; Broadhurst & Morley 2014).
Discussion
A total of 54,982 birds was recorded during the 2013/14 northeast Atlantic seabird
wreck, 79.6% of which were found in France. This number is likely to be a large
underestimate of the final death toll, due to the limited surveying across all regions
impacted. Also, many birds that perish in storms may not be washed ashore, the
proportion of which can only be estimated by drift experiments made during the
incident (Weise 2003). However, with such a large level of mortality (94% of the
birds, of which 53.6% were Puffins, were found dead), it is important to consider
potential factors that may have affected the severity of the wreck event.
Causes of mortality: The ringing recoveries recorded by the BTO attribute 42.3%
of mortality to ‘violent weather’; this is the likely overall cause, but more specif-
ically several independent lines of evidence point to starvation as the most likely
direct explanation for the extensive mortality observed in the 2013/14 seabird
wreck. Autopsy data from Alderney (Broadhurst & Morley 2014), Chesil Beach (P.
Read pers. comm.) and the AHVLA (AHVLA 2014) all show marked levels of
emaciated body condition in analysed specimens. The recording of weight of dead
birds comes with the caveat that many corpses are found in a desiccated state,
potentially overestimating the amount of weight loss. However, the Alderney
autopsy states that 50% of specimens were fresh and 25% rather fresh, reducing
the likelihood of desiccation after death being a major factor for these results.
Although starvation is the main factor in cause of mortality, evidence of drowning,
such as spume in lungs, was also noted in some specimens (AHVLA 2014;
Broadhurst & Morley 2014).
Many factors are likely to affect the susceptibility of different species or
individuals to death from starvation or drowning. Seabirds spend a significant
amount of time and energy foraging in winter, particularly in November and
December, to regain body condition for the breeding season (e.g. Daunt et al.
2006; Fort et al. 2009), so challenging winter conditions sustained over several
weeks or, as in this case, months are likely to affect the birds’ foraging opportu-
nities with possible consequences on their future condition, survival and
reproductive ability. For example, European Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis,
hereafter ‘Shags’, have been shown to forage less during times of high wind
speeds, with males foraging for shorter times than females which could have
consequences for sex-specific survival rates (Lewis et al. 2015), and they may
even halt diving altogether during high onshore gales (Frederiksen et al. 2008).

SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
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Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
Additionally, the continued turbid water conditions associated with storms may
create poor visibility for foraging. This is a particular issue for auks which have
less flexible foraging strategies than Shags (Watanuki et al. 2008; Cook & Burton
2010) and spend more energy on longer, deeper dives (Elliott et al. 2013; Elliott
& Gaston 2014) to pass through the turbid surface conditions, possibly causing
the energetic cost of foraging to outweigh the nutritional gain from successful
catches. The fact that the overwhelming majority (91.3%) of retrieved birds
during the 2013/14 seabird wreck belonged to the auk family supports difficult
foraging conditions as a major contributor to mortality.
In addition to considering the weather conditions, the habits of the species found
must also be considered; susceptibility may vary between pelagic and inshore
species and between long- and short-ranging species. Pelagic seabirds were the
most impacted during the wreck, accounting for 92.5% of all findings (auks alone
were 91.3%), whilst inshore species contributed just 3.3% of all findings (Table 2)
suggesting they were less susceptible to the conditions created by the storms.
Findings from a small number of Puffins carrying geolocation loggers also suggest
that the migratory patterns of some individuals may make them more susceptible
to suffer from a wreck than others (A. Fayet et al. unpubl. data). Moult stage could
be another factor adding to birds’ susceptibility to a wreck event. For example,
Puffins shed all their main wing feathers synchronously during the winter (Harris
& Yule 1977) and are then unable to fly for a few weeks (Harris 2014; Harris et al.
2014). However, the small number of moulting Puffins found suggests moult was
not an important factor in this wreck (M.P. Harris pers. comm.). Nevertheless, it
cannot be totally disregarded, given the variability in the timing of Puffin moult
(Harris et al. 2014) and the role of post-moult feather growth in the Razorbill
wreck in 2007 (Heubeck et al. 2011).
Besides differences in foraging, migratory strategies, and habitat use, the physio-
logical differences between species could also have affected mortality rates. For
instance, the partially wettable plumage of Shags (Grémillet et al. 1998) increases
mortality in times of low ambient temperature, most likely through hypothermia
(Frederiksen et al. 2008). The ability to survive through a wreck event may also be
linked to body size, with larger-bodied species retaining greater energy reserves.
Finally, metabolism could also play a role, as suggested by Hope Jones et al. (1984)
who discovered a higher percentage of Razorbills to have lower fat reserves on
autopsy than Guillemots following the 1983 seabird wreck. However, the small
samples examined of these species from the 2013/14 wreck are insufficient to
provide any further evidence on the role of metabolism, particularly as weight loss
was high for both species. A recent study of some specimens showed, however, that
high concentrations of mercury (known to increase stress) may have acted as an
aggravating mortality factor during the event (Fort et al. 2015).
Impacts of mortality: Whilst the majority of wreck birds were located in France
(Tables 2 and 3), most ringed birds were from breeding colonies in Scotland, Wales
and Ireland (Table 4). This is to be expected as most of the large seabird colonies

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SEABIRD 29 (2016): 22–38
Reported mortality in the 2013/14 NE Atlantic seabird wreck
where BTO-licensed ringers operate are in these locations, but it does highlight
the possibility that reproductive success, recruitment or survival of birds from
these colonies were impacted by the wreck. Furthermore, whilst the scale of the
wreck event is staggering in terms of numbers, it is not the first event of this scale.
For example, in February and March 1994, 20,000–50,000 Guillemots and
3,000–5,000 Shags were reported washed ashore in emaciated states due to
storm events (Harris & Wanless 1996), and in February 1983 prolonged storms
across Western Europe resulted in 34,000 seabirds washing ashore in the
northeast UK alone with another 24,000 across Western Europe (Underwood &
Stowe 1984). Therefore, the regularity of wrecks impacting on a particular species
or colony should also be considered when trying to uncover any longer-term
effects at the population level.
In summary, the seabird wreck along the Atlantic coastline of northwest Europe
in winter 2013/14 was an extreme example of weather-induced mortality from
starvation in seabird populations. The subsequent impacts on population
numbers and productivity are likely to be detectable in multiple species and
colonies (M.J. Wood et al., unpubl data; T.R. Birkhead, pers. comm.). Whilst any
individual wreck can have significant consequences for the populations involved,
the frequency of wreck events is also likely to be an important factor. The
potential of climate change to increase the frequency and strength of storms
(Slingo et al. 2014; Fischer & Knutti 2015) can have severe implications for
seabird populations in the future, and the vulnerability of species to extreme
events needs to be accounted for in future predictions of ecological impacts of
climate change (Frederiksen et al. 2008).
Acknowledgements
We would like thank the hundreds of dedicated staff, volunteers and members
of the public across Western Europe who responded to the wreck event with
efforts to survey its impact. We would like to thank the organisations across
Europe that contributed to the response to and recording of the wreck,
including: Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), RSPB, Cornwall, Devon
and Dorset Wildlife Trusts (and the Cornwall Marine Strandings Network and
DoWT staff at Chesil Beach, Dorset in particular), RSPCA, South Devon Seabird
Trust, BTO Ringing Scheme, National Trust, Natural England, SEO Birdlife,
Alderney Wildlife Trust, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, States of Jersey,
States of Guernsey, other county Wildlife Trusts and Sussex Ornithological
Society. We would particularly like to thank the following people for their
specific help in supplying data and details on responses to the wreck event in
their location: Mike Harris (CEH, Scotland), Glyn Young (Durrell Conservation
Trust, Jersey), Cristina Sellares (National Trust, Jersey), Catherine Veron (La
Société Guernesiaise, Guernsey), Janice Dockerill (Environment Department,
Guernsey), Anne-Isabelle Boulon (Living Islands, Alderney), Ed Stubbings
(Warden Skomer Island, Wales), Bee Bueche (Warden Skomer Island, Wales),
Pembrokeshire Bird Group (Wales), Phil Read (Chesil Beach, Dorset), John
Walmsley (Newgale Beach, Wales), Tim van Nus (Portugal), Olivier le Gall (LPO,

France), Amélie Boue (LPO, France) and Albert Cama Torrell (Spain). We are also
grateful to Martin Heubeck, Viola Ross-Smith, Richard Sherley and two
anonymous referees, whose comments greatly improved this paper.
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