Staff at the RSPCA West Hatch Wildlife Centre are urgently appealing to people from across the West Country to donate to help stricken seabirds recovering at a centre.

They desperately needs towels and donations to pay for fresh fish as they care for a sudden influx of injured rare seabirds.

Staff are currently caring for more than 260 Manx Shearwaters who came into the centre earlier this week after they were rescued by the RSPCA from Newgale beach in Wales, where they were caught up in difficult weather conditions.

It is thought there was a mass landing of the birds on the Pembrokeshire beach, following storms during the early hours of Monday.

Others were also rescued in Cornwall and Devon after the gales and brought to the centre near Taunton.

The birds are undergoing rehabilitation in the hope they can soon be released back to the wild but the team caring for them are pleading for help as they struggle to keep up with the sudden huge demand.

Dr Bel Deering, centre manager, said: “People have always been really generous when we make our appeals, and we hope they will help us again.

“We are in desperate need of small hand towels and donations to help with the cost of feeding them.

"Their initial care include four tube feeds a day of home-made fish soup so we are having to buy in a huge amount of fish to feed all of these birds.With such huge numbers of Manx Shearwaters coming into care over the past few days we are also struggling with keeping up the laundry and would appreciate any donations.

“The birds are exhausted after being caught in strong winds and rough seas and bashed into rocks and eventually washed up onto beaches where our hard working inspectors and animal collection officers have been rescuing them and bringing them into West Hatch.”

Sadly, approximately ten percent of those birds collected by the RSPCA had to be put to sleep on welfare grounds and around 100 were also found dead on the beach, following their ordeal in the stormy conditions.

Large populations of Manx shearwaters are based in West Wales and, at this time of year, regularly face problems in stormy or windy weather. Many of the birds get blown off course - and while they are very able in flight or on water, they can struggle on dry land.

Towels can be dropped off at RSPCA West Hatch, Cold Road, Taunton, TA3 5RT. Unfortunately staff at the centre are extremely busy as they fight to save the rare birds and are unable to collect towels.

Anyone who can help donate towards covering the cost of feeding the birds can do so through RSPCA West Hatch wildlife centre’s dedicated Manx Shearwater fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rspca-west-hatch1.