National Trust rangers work to protect Farne Island seabirds devastated by bird flu

The Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland 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.
In 2022, avian influenza, also known as bird flu, swept through the islands killing thousands of precious wild birds. National Trust rangers who would normally be monitoring the birds and welcoming visitors, instead spent their time disposing of bird carcasses and the islands were closed to visitors. More than 6000 dead birds were removed but that's likely to be just the tip of the iceberg as most of the sick creatures will have fallen or been swept into the sea. In this film you can meet the rangers dealing with this terrible duty and find out how they are trying to help the bird colonies survive.
In 2023, the islands will remain closed to visitors - at least for the first part of the breeding season, although boat trips around the islands will go ahead. 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 the already endangered seabird colonies having occurred before. National Trust rangers will continue to manage vegetation and improve nesting habitat on the islands to ensure the birds have the best opportunity to breed successfully. They will also monitor the various bird species to understand how many have retuned, the numbers of breeding pairs and how many chicks fledge.

[SoulFaeWorld]

Saddening to see this keep happening 🕊️

[Kektamusprime]

something like 50m birds have died from bird flu in USA alone in 2022, Colorado has lost pretty much all its Chickens, human cases in Cambodia the other day, and what appears to be mammal to mammal transmission in Peru and large amounts of seals dying, make no mistake this is going to spread and get worse. Gonna make covid look like a picnic