Seagulls in their hundreds flocked to feed in Tenby’s North Bay earlier this week after a large number of sand eels and whitebait were washed up on the beach

Robert Phillips, Natural Resources Wales team leader for Pembrokeshire, said: “Protecting marine life makes up a big part of the work we do, which is why we have officers on hand to respond to fish kill events and pollution incidents.

“We were made aware of the large numbers of sand eels and whitebait washing up on beaches in Tenby over the last few days. Officers have attended and we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days.

“At this stage, we suspect that these species succumbed to some form of heat exhaustion (due to the recent high temperatures) after being driven into the shallows by predatory fish. In recent years, similar natural occurrences have been witnessed in Ceredigion and on the Gower.

“Whilst we will keep an open mind as to possible causes, no other marine species appear effected and recent Bathing Water samples show the water quality to be excellent. We have taken additional water samples and will be investigating the incident further.”

• A pollution incident was reported on the nearby River Ritec on?Wednesday which flows to an outfall offshore of Tenby South Beach. At the moment, NRW say there is no evidence to say that these two incidents are linked.

“The pollution incident appears to have started after the dead fish were reported, but we are continuing to look into whether the two incidents are connected,” said a statement