The Seabird Aviary

All the birds here have either been given a permanent home or are awaiting release. You should be able to see some of the following: - The gannet's striking white plumage, sharp beak and a 5-foot wingspan make it the most impressive of the seabirds brought to us. A recurring problem for young birds is getting tangled in netting that their parents have brought to the nest.

The members of the auk family - guillemots, razorbills, puffins and little auks used to be regular arrivals because of oil pollution. Tighter regulations seem to be reducing spillages but now they are finding it harder to find enough food. Starving chicks are frequent admissions, something that never happened 20 years ago. Over fishing by us combined with global warming forcing the fish into cooler waters are probably to blame.

Black-backed gulls on the other hand have been doing very well. They have learnt that our rubbish tips offer a year round supply of food but it also means they sometimes suffer from food poisoning. Our resident birds were involved in accidents requiring wing amputations but they have paired up and regularly hatch their own chicks - probably the first record of them breeding in Lincolnshire.