As he walked along the shores of Lake Highland on a beautiful May evening, environmentalist and wildlife photographer Peter Stronach could hardly believe what he saw. The beach was littered with dead and dying birds: male ducks, several species of seagulls, junipers, drums and no less than 26 pink-legged geese, which had to return to their Icelandic breeding grounds.
In total, Stronach recorded 72 individual birds of 17 species in the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve on the east coast of Scotland that day, plus many more in the following days.
But these birds were not killed by a passing predator; nor were they the unfortunate victims of a sudden storm at sea. The cause of these deaths is a highly contagious – and for birds, usually deadly – virus. Bird flu H5N1, or as it is better known, bird flu, returns with revenge.
What really worries Stronach is the variety of species he has discovered. “Earlier this spring, we noticed that bird flu was limited to geese; but it has since spread to other wild birds, birds of prey and seabirds. “
In previous years, this happened mostly in the winter; now, he says, it affects nesting populations of iconic coastal species such as the gag.
Elsewhere in Scotland earlier this month, about 20 large sea urchins were found dead or dying on Fair Isle, with more reported from other breeding colonies in the Shetland Islands. This was followed by a serious outbreak of bird flu in 2021, which killed hundreds of sailors.
For any species, these deaths are a serious obstacle, especially in the height of the breeding season. But for the great bustards and pink-legged geese, this news is particularly worrying. Scotland hosts 60% of the world’s nesting population of great bluebirds and 90% of the world’s population of pink-legged geese overwinter in the United Kingdom. For these two species, both of which are on the amber list of conservation birds, bird flu can pose a serious threat to their long-term future.
Avian influenza is by no means limited to the United Kingdom. In December 2021, an outbreak in the Hula Valley in northern Israel killed more than 5,000 cranes from a wintering population of 30,000 birds. In what the Israeli government called “the deadliest wildlife disaster in the nation’s history,” workers in protective suits were filmed collecting corpses. After the epidemic, farmers were instructed to slaughter hundreds of thousands of chickens.
Protective workers throw away one of the 5,000 cranes killed in a bird flu epidemic in December in the Hula Valley in Israel. Photo: Ariel Shalit / AP
In Canada, a deadly strain of bird flu has already devastated the poultry industry, killing nearly 2 million chickens. Now it has been transferred not only to wild birds but also to mammals. While the disease is usually limited to waterfowl, this particular strain has attacked crows, jays, seagulls, birds of prey and even young foxes.
The United States is suffering from what appears to be the worst outbreak of bird flu to date – which farmers blame for wildlife transmission. More than 37 million chickens and turkeys have been destroyed so far, and more are yet to come. If only one bird is positive, farmers must destroy the entire flock.
As noted in a report: “In Wisconsin, queues of dump trucks took days to gather masses of bird carcasses and accumulate them in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of decaying birds. ” Even the bald eagle, America’s national bird, is affected.
Warning reports tell people not to feed the Jennings Wharf swans in Windsor, England, after a bird flu epidemic in January. Photo: Maureen McLean / Rex / Shutterstock
Can it affect people? The answer in very rare cases is yes – usually those, such as agricultural workers, who have been in close and prolonged contact with infected poultry. From 2003 to 2021, almost 500 people worldwide died after contracting the virus.
It is clear that bird flu is something we need to take seriously. But Stronach is concerned that the current monitoring and surveillance system is designed to protect poultry trading companies and is not really suitable for wild bird populations. “We need urgent research to find out what other species it is and, most importantly, the mechanisms by which it spreads,” he said.
He is particularly concerned that if dead birds are not collected after an epidemic, they could be cleared of buzzards, red kites, seagulls and guinea pigs, thus spreading the disease even faster.
Anyone who finds a dead or dying wild bird suspected of having the disease should not touch the carcass; nor should they try to save him if he is still alive. In the United Kingdom, they must immediately report their findings to Defra’s 03459 335577 hotline.
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