Beachgoers in Devon found themselves swamped with thousands of tiny fish over the bank holiday weekend.
The dead fish, thought to be whitebait, washed-up on the beaches at Branscombe and Sidmouth and apparently seagulls wouldn’t touch them.
The Express reports: Families enjoying a day out were shocked to find piles of dead fish at the high water mark during the Bank Holiday weekend.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Questions remain over how the fish ended up on the Devon beaches and why none of the hungry seagulls will touch them.
The seabirds that have plagued Britain’s holidaygoers this summer seemed to be refusing to take advantage of the free meal in front of them.
Families were spotted trying to throw the fish back into the sea but became overwhelmed as more fish were pushed ashore.
Large numbers of fish have been washed ashore on previous occasions because of pollution and environmental disturbances.
The scene was reminiscent of Branscombe beach in 2007 when thousands of birds and marine wildlife were affected by pollution from the beaching of the MSC Napoli.
In August last year Plymouth suffered a similar incident when bewildered beach walkers came across “hundreds of thousands” of whitebait fish trapped in the tidal pool at Devil’s Point.
Guy Baker, Marine Biological Association communications officer, also suggested that this was the season for mackerel to be hunting small fish and they could have chased them into the shallow waters.
