Pushed north by global heating, birds like the European bee-eater seen in Norfolk likely to become established visitors
The UK has been facing its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza, with cases found around Scotland including a recent outbreak on the remote archipelago of St Kilda.Samples were taken from hundreds of dead birds found on East Lothian beaches.
Concerned ornithologists are asking the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to introduce stricter measures to avoid a new outbreak of bird flu. The risk of infection to humans is considered low by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, but we are concerned about infection between animals. Everyone who has poultry must be aware of the infection in wild birds, protect their own birds against infection and monitor the birds' state of health, says Anne Marie Jahr of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.
Endangered guillemots sit tightly in the bird cliff. Infection of bird flu can pass through the colony quickly, fear scientists, who have found several dead birds in recent days. The finds on Hornøya join the series of observations along the coast. There are constantly new reports of sea otters in particular being found in Western Norway. There are also reports of sick gulls and sea eagles along the entire coast up to East Finnmark.
“Last year we got several reports from tourists and scientists that they saw around six walruses dead here on the west side of Svalbard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sample them as the dead walruses drifted away by the time we got to the place. But it’s not normal to get so many reported dead walruses in such a small area," said Christian Lydersen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute. Now samples (collected by a Station Manager in July 2023) have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
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