Sea heat threat to shearwaters

CORY'S shearwaters make for awe-inspiring spectacles when riding white horse waves unharnessed by tempestuous seas.

- Stuart Winter

Watching these ocean wanderers mastering the might of Hurricane Otto with the merest of wing flicks will remain an enduring memory of my adventure of a lifetime. The 100mph winds that had left me stranded on the remote Azores archipelago were no challenge for the shearwaters as they careened and zigzagged effortlessly offshore, defying huge Atlantic rollers the height of houses.

Aerodynamic design evolved over millennia has given the shearwaters an advantage in the face of powerful cyclones, but more insidious forces - many say man-made - threaten them.