More than 2,000 seabirds are believed to have been contaminated by oil leaking from the grounded container ship.

At least 1,100, mainly guillemots, have been washed up on the Devon and Dorset coastline, many of them alive. But at least the same number are thought to have died at sea.

There were fears yesterday that dolphins could be among the creatures poisoned by the oil after carcasses were washed up. At least half a dozen were found, but conservationists said that they were more likely to have died from other causes.

Birds found covered in oil include guillemots, gulls, razorbills and kittywakes. Rescue workers from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are treating 368 birds for oil contamination at the West Hatch Wildlife Centre in Somerset.

Tests by the Environment Agency on the water in Lyme Bay, on the Devon coast, eased fears of contamination from the contents of containers that fell off the listing ship at the weekend.

Initial results from the samples showed that Lyme Bay had escaped pollution from the pesticides and toxic substances.

Coastguards and salvage workers were struggling yesterday to contain a second oil leak from the ship in Lyme Bay.

Salvage workers started pumping 3,500 tonnes of heavy fuel oil from the ship on to a tanker moored alonside.

The operation is expected to take a week.

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