Mystery continues to surround the coastlines of Angus and Fife, which have become mass graves for seabirds and cuttlefish.
Stretches of beach, from Montrose to Carnoustie in Angus, and Tentsmuir in Fife, continued to see birds wash up on Thursday, along with thousands of the sea animals.
According to RSPB Scotland, the death of several hundred birds highlights the importance of providing an ecologically sound marine protected areas network.
The bad weather has been blamed.
It is not known what has caused the cuttlefish to beach in such large numbers but they are known to die after their breeding season, which tends to occur between February and May in an ideal water temperature of 13/14C.
Cuttlefish become mature during their second winter and return to inshore areas in their second spring/summer to breed. Once mating and egg laying has occurred, the cuttlefish die.
An RSPB Scotland spokesman said: “We have many reserves across the east of Scotland, which includes coastal sites, and we are shocked to see the high volume of sea bird deaths this month.
“Events such as these highlight how difficult life can be for sea birds and, therefore, it is even more crucial for proper protection at sea through an ecologically sound marine protected areas network.
“Finding hundreds of birds which are dead or struggling is shocking, since they are highly adaptive animals who can cope with harsh conditions at sea.”
The RSPB has been working with the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology throughout this week and has received many reports of corpses found along the eastern shores including puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and even a porpoise.
In Angus, at Montrose Bay, 74 puffins were found dead with another 20 alive but struggling. Guillemots were also found to have suffered huge losses, with 36 corpses discovered and four alive but exhausted.
Further south in Angus at Carnoustie Bay, leading to Craigmill Burn, approximately 100 puffins, 10 guillemots and five razorbills were found dead. Lunan Bay had many corpses for sea birds including 37 puffins, 18 guillemot and six razorbills.
Kinshaldy Beach in Fife had 20 dead puffins, one guillemot, two razorbills and a herring gull.
The conservation charity believes severe weather may have led to birds struggling to find food or succumbing to exhaustion, although the exact causes are unknown.