Rescuers' oiled birds riddle

The alert came after 60 birds were found covered in oil off the Isle of Wight .

Trevor Weeks, from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service, said the oil could be down to vessels cleaning their engines illegally, close to where cargo ship the Ice Prince sank off the Dorset coast last week.

He said: 'The coastguard are telling us this is not from the Ice Prince so one explanation could be a tanker cleaning out its engines illegally.

'It could also be due to an old wreck leaking oil but we would not expect this much oil from that.'

A spokesman for Solent coastguard said they were mystified by the oil sitings.

He said: 'As far as we know it is not linked to the Ice Prince.

'The local harbour authority have not reported any oil so we are a bit mystified about where they think the oil is because we are not having any reports.

'The only oil we have had reported from harbour authorities is in the Isle of Wight. We have had none on the Sussex coast.

'We have had an aircraft up checking the coast, seeing where the timber (from the Ice Prince] is coming ashore and how much more to expect.

'We have flown out to the wreck and to the Napoli and there is no extra oil there.'

If you spot an oiled bird call WRAS on 07815 078234 or the RSPCA.