‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade

Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find food

The two puffins washed up among seaweed and bits of plastic on a beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on a damp February morning. Normally, these much-loved seabirds pull in crowds of tourists eager to see their courtship rituals, but these were rolling in the surf, dead. Most people walking past probably missed them.

Their breast bones were sticking out, they had no fat on them, and their muscles were wasted; the pair probably starved to death, unable to find enough food out in the Atlantic Ocean where they spend the winter.