: Saturday March 19, 2005
The Guardian
Conservationists have expressed alarm at the death of hundreds of one of Britain's most distinctive seabirds, found washed up on the east coast of Scotland.
The bodies of around 1,000 shags, thought to have died from malnutrition, have been found during a recent count on beaches. Environmentalists say they are likely to only be the tip of the iceberg, with countless others dying at sea.
The UK has almost half of the world's population of shags, also known as the green cormorant, with most of the 29,000 birds living around Scotland's coasts. Experts say they can ill afford to lose such significant numbers.
Shags have also been turning up in unusual locations across England, apparently looking for food. A flock of 20 of the birds landed in a garden in Norfolk recently, and another was found dead on an island in the Thames.
Mark Grantham, recovery officer for the British Trust for Ornithology, said yesterday that studies of the birds' bodies showed they were suffering from malnutrition. This is thought to have been brought about by the changing cur rents in the North Sea, a situation that may have been exacerbated by global warming.
"Seabirds, including shags, like the flow of cold water into the North Sea which normally comes from the Faroes. It brings large numbers of zoo-plankton called copepods, which in turn feed the sand eels eaten by the shags."
He added: "When the input of cold water into the North Sea is cut off, the shags start to suffer."
The discovery of the shags follows the worst ever breeding season for Scottish seabirds last year, which was blamed on a lack of food.
....... feathered birds, you daft buggers. 
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