Shag GZJZ - Another rescue from discarded waste...

Another Lucky Shag

Visitors had been reporting a juvenile Shag with some rubbish around it's neck at The Alterstanes. It was looking bad for the bird. Now it was away from the nest it would be almost impossible to catch.

The bird had been ringed on the 2nd June near The Alterstanes at Horse Hole. It wore a ring with the letters GZJZ.

 

The bird  was expertly caught by Mark by climbing stealth like, as it sat on the rocks. He carried it up and we cut the detritus off it. It was likely that this rubbish was in the birds nest and this is where it picked it up.

 

The bird was released after it's ordeal. The bird was still in relatively good condition. It had been managing to catch fish even with this rubbish round it's neck.

This is a perfect example of how throwing litter into the sea can have a direct impact on the birds of the Isle of May.

This bird and the now famous 'Beer Shag' that we wrote about last year were lucky ones. How much of our other sea life is not so lucky?