hello done a beached survey on aberavon beach from the end of the prom down to the river along sanddunes did not do other half of beach due to tide coming in and i encountered a number of 23 dead seabirds 😦 5 first year puffins, 1 fulmar, 1 unknown gull, 5 razorbills and 10 guillemots there was one strange thing i noticed about the dead birds that they were all intact except that most of their legs had been cut off and there were 3 birds with there heads and legs cut clean off which i found quite strange didnt look like animal contact most birds eyes were still visiable there was one bird which was a razorbill that was ringed metal ring from brit museum M77 212 looked as if it was just ringed no scrapes or sings of age such a sad time
I also noticed heads missing from dead birds on this beach. I saw a dog with one bird but I do not think this accounted for the headless birds.
Mike
what species had their heads cut off? poss skull collectors?
im assuming that the heads cut off were a razorbill, a few gullimont and one puffin but i noticed nearly all Caracas’ had their legs off