Scientists investigate hundreds of guillemot deaths on UK coastline

Seabird carcasses discovered along Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Scottish shores, with many more found emaciated

Several hundred seabirds have been found dead along the coasts of north-east England and Scotland, while many have been discovered emaciated.

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), which is investigating the cause of the deaths, said the majority of the birds were guillemots.

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Unholy row erupts over Larry Landtrain taking visitors on Lindisfarne

Council scraps four-week trial of alternative to existing shuttlebus after swift and fierce opposition

For centuries, pilgrims have walked in the footsteps of monks who once inhabited Lindisfarne, connected by a tidal causeway to the ancient kingdom of Northumbria.

They have marvelled at the birthplace of the Lindisfarne gospels, one of the most celebrated illuminated manuscripts in the world, admired the castle that towers over crashing waves and the ruins of the ancient priory, and watched thousands of grey seals basking on the sand banks.

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Practical joke or toy? Leather ‘mouse’ shows Romans’ playful side

Unique 2,000-year-old discovery made by staff in lockdown at Northumberland’s Vindolanda Museum

The Roman author Pliny the Younger advised “kissing the hairy muzzle of a mouse” as a cure for the common cold. His fellow countrymen linked mice to the god Apollo, who could bring deadly plague upon them with his arrows.

So they might not have seen the funny side of a lifelike mouse made out of a strip of leather which has been newly discovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian’s Wall, near Hexham, Northumberland.

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