Oil-laden puffins rescued on beach

Two rare puffins found covered in oil on a beach in Sunderland were taken to the RSPCA’S Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre, in Nantwich, Cheshire.

The centre is caring for a number of oiled birds from the same beach, including eight guillemots and two razorbills, but it is very rare to treat puffins, which spend autumn and winter at sea and come to the UK’S shores in spring and summer to breed.

Lee Stewart, manager of the wildlife centre, said: “If oil is not removed from waterbirds, it reduces the natural waterproofing in their plumage, leaving them at risk of dying from hypothermia.”

The wildlife centre is always looking for donations of Fairy Original washing up liquid to help clean oiled birds, and bottles can be dropped off at the centre in London Road, Nantwich, or at a donation point situated at Nantwich Sainsbury’s.

Samantha Herbert