Alarm after herring gulls found covered in oil in Peel

The charity said the 13 birds had been collected and taken away to be cleaned but several other “partially oiled” birds were spotted and proved unable to be retrieved.

It warned the oil would kill most of the gulls “sooner or later” as the substance would hinder their ability to keep warm.

“When they go into the water they start getting waterlogged and become hypothermic,” it said.

The oil could also lead to birds sinking and drowning, it said, and the loss of a parent could lead to gull chicks starving to death.

The charity said there had been similar issues with oil in the town since 2022, with a peregrine falcon among the birds collected from the same area in the past.

“We should be ashamed that this is happening to birds year after year and nothing is ever done,” it said.

Defa has called for people who find birds coated in oil to contact the organisation.