Bird flu causing ‘catastrophic’ fall in UK seabird numbers, conservationists warn
Bird flu causing ‘catastrophic’ fall in UK seabird numbers, conservationists warn
Report by RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology finds H5N1 has killed three-quarters of great skua and 25% of northern gannets
The UK has lost more than three-quarters of its great skuas on surveyed sites since bird flu struck, according to the first report quantifying the impact of H5N1 on seabird populations.
The deaths have happened over two years, since the outbreak of H5N1 in 2021. The UK is internationally important for seabirds, home to most of the world’s 16,000 pairs of nesting great skuas.
Jean Duggan, a policy assistant on avian influenza for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), said: “To have that level of loss in a population we have international responsibility for is quite catastrophic.
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At the end of that article it says 30% of the two species tested had antibodies for the avian 'flu. I'm staying with that idea.