Thousands of birds die on one of UK’s most important habitats
An ‘unprecedented wildlife tragedy’ has struck on one of the UK’s most important avian habitats.
Farne Islands off the north east coast has been struck by bird flu.
Rangers had to wear protective suits to collect their bodies – so far they’ve picked up more than 3,000 carcasses for incineration.
Experts fear the true toll could run into the tens of thousands.
Many more are thought to have fallen off the cliffs into the North Sea after becoming unwell.
Cliff-nesting birds seemed to be the worst-affected, with guillemots, kittiwakes and young puffins known as pufflings among those recovered.
Some of the dead birds were ringed and the casualties include an eight-year-old Arctic tern which would have flown from the Farne Islands to Antarctica and back eight times during its lifetime, covering 144,000 miles.
Also discovered was a 16-year-old kittiwake which was ringed on the islands in 2006.
The Farnes, which are looked after by the National Trust, are an internationally-important habitat for 23 species, including puffins, with 200,000 birds living there.
Usually, 45,000 people take a trip to the Farnes each year but the islands were closed to visitors at the start of this month due to the outbreak.
Instead of tourists, rangers working for the National Trust can now be seen there removing the dead birds to prevent further contamination.
For their own safety, they wore white hazmat suits, gloves and masks.
Farnes’ general manager Simon Lee said: ‘The welfare of our staff, volunteers and visitors is our top priority as we navigate this unprecedented wildlife tragedy on the islands.
‘The National Trust has cared for the Farne Islands for just under 100 years, and there are no records of anything so potentially damaging to our already endangered seabird colonies.
‘The Farne Islands is a National Nature Reserve and home to approximately 200,000 seabirds, including guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and shags in addition to Arctic terns and puffins.
‘Our team of rangers are working hard to minimise the spread of the disease amongst the island’s precious wildlife.’
This strain of bird flu originated in east Asia and affected domestic flocks in the UK over the winter. It has since spread across the country to infect wild birds.
It spreads when birds come into direct contact with an infected bird, faeces, body fluids or indirectly via food and water.
The risk to humans is considered to be very low and people are rarely affected.
The National Trust has called on the Government to act.
Ben McCarthy, the Trust’s head of nature conservation and restoration ecology, said: ‘This disease is undoing decades of hard work to restore nature and undermines the Government’s own targets to reverse the decline of our threatened species and improve their habitats.
‘The scale of this disaster calls for an urgent National Response Plan for the virus in wild birds.
‘We need a more co-ordinated approach to ensure effective monitoring, surveillance and reporting to support research into the impacts this deadly disease is having on our wild birds across the UK.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.