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Thousands of seabirds have been wiped out in the winter storms which have also claimed the lives of dolphins and seals found washed up on west country beaches

The winter storms have caused an "unprecedented" wildlife disaster, wiping out thousands of rare seabirds, experts said yesterday.

An estimated 1,600 dead birds have washed up on beaches in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall and West Wales since early last month, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reported.

The bodies of a further 1,000 seabirds have been recovered from beaches in the Channel Islands, with more than 20 species, including guillemots, razorbills, puffins and kittiwakes, among the dead.

The RSPB said that a "double whammy" of climate change and winter storms was making it harder for birds to find enough fish to survive. The deaths will have a serious impact on breeding colonies.

At least 28,000 birds have perished across the north eastern Atlantic region, with nearly 22,000 washed up along the French coast, the conservationists said.

The toll also includes gannets, fulmars, gulls and shags. Fishermen have reported seeing the bodies of seabirds "carpeting" the Bay of Biscay.

Puffins have suffered particularly badly, with 97 washed up on beaches in Guernsey and Jersey and more elsewhere in Britain.

Dr Euan Dunn, the RSPB's principal marine adviser, said: "This seabird wreck, on a scale unprecedented in living memory, could have profound impacts on vulnerable seabird breeding colonies.

"Many of our seabirds are already under pressure because their staple summer diet of sand eels is in decline in response to sea warming, another result of climate change, which is making it a struggle to find enough food for themselves and their chicks.

"Sea warming, along with winter storms, which make it hard for birds to find fish in continually turbulent seas, are inflicting a double whammy."

The Cornwall Wildlife Trust said "an unprecedented number" of dead birds, dolphins and seals had been washing up on the coast there.

The charity said seals in particular were struggling, with many of this year's pups found stranded, injured, weak or dead.

The trust said 14 seals and nine dolphins had been recorded dead on the shores of Cornwall in the past four weeks. Experts at the Dorset Wildlife Trust (DWT) added that frequent gale-force storms in the English Channel during the past month had made it very hard for creatures to hunt and feed.

Malnutrition coupled with flying in unusually strong winds meant that birds became exhausted and died.

Some conservationists have claimed the birds have been killed by a pollutant similar to palm oil but this has been ruled out by the DWT.

Mark Smith, of the trust, said: "We have probably had 600 birds washed up along the south-west coast over the last few days. Of these about 130 have been found alive and taken to an RSPCA centre. We have had a few puffins but most of the birds have been guillemots and a few razorbills.

"About 300 of them have been found on Chesil Beach. Portland sticks out in the Channel like a giant hand which grabs anything blown from the south west. These birds were exhausted, under weight and suffering from malnutrition."

Mr Smith said the birds could have died at any time in the past two weeks and were now being washed ashore.