Bird flu – some comparisons between 2021 and 2022

This year and last: this time last year, from the end of July to the beginning of October, there were hardly any positive cases of bird flu in wild birds recorded by the government surveillance scheme. In 10 full weeks there were only three weeks with positive cases, though these were all Great Skuas, and…

Bird flu strategy for England and Wales

In response to this document published yesterday I said this (in a series of tweets, reproduced here below with typos corrected) and the RSPB said this (lower still): UK context: this is by and for England and Wales. It rather ignores the fact that birds fly around between England and Wales and Scotland. For example,…

Good news on Hen Harriers

This news from Natural England is very welcome – for two main reasons. First, it is good news, and second, it is fairly informative and doesn’t look as though it was written by the shooting industry. 119 Hen Harrier chicks fledged from 49 nests (actually from the 34 successful nests, and some nests were re-nests…

Bird/poultry flu on Today

It was good to hear bird/poultry flu on BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning but the interview between Justin Webb and the Chief Vet, Christine Middlemiss (just after 07:30), just exposed the fact that both were operating off a smattering of knowledge about the subject when it comes to wild birds. That’s OK for…