EDINBURGH: Conservationists have expressed alarm at the death of hundreds of one of Britain’s most distinctive seabird species, 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.

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 in eastern England, recently, and another was found dead on an island in the Thames.

Mark Grantham, recovery officer for the British Trust for Ornithology, said that studies of the birds’ bodies showed they were suffering from malnutrition. This is thought to have been brought about by the changing currents in the North Sea.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.