Farne Islands avian flu outbreak kills thousands of birds in ‘unprecedented wildlife tragedy’

A bird flu outbreak on one of the UK's most important habitats has killed thousands of birds in an "unprecedented wildlife tragedy".

Rangers working on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast have donned protective suits and so far collected more than 3,000 bird carcasses for incineration.

This is far from the total figure, island authorities said, which could run into the tens of thousands depending on the extent of the contagion.

The Farnes, which are looked after by the National Trust, provide an internationally-renowned habitat for 23 species, including puffins, with 200,000 birds living there.

Rangers living on the different islands within the Farne archipelago have had to wear “full hazmat suits,” said Gwen Potter, a countryside manager for the National Trust.

This includes rubber wellies, the right gloves, and if they get “very close to the birds,” a mask and goggles as well, she added.

While they have collected more than 3000 dead birds, Ms Potter said the true figure will be “far more than that,” as there are “birds we can't get to,” such as those who died on cliff edges.

“Dead birds are turning up on beaches around the north-east coast ,” she added.

Cliff-nesting birds appear to be the worst-affected by the bird flu outbreak, with guillemots, kittiwakes and young puffins, known as pufflings, among those recovered.

The general outlook on mortality is bleak, Ms Potter said, adding that around 25 per cent of the island’s sandwich terns colony have been affected, most of whom the Trust expect will die.

Annually, 45,000 people take a trip to the Farnes but the islands were closed to visitors at the start of this month.

Ms Potter said there was “no expectation” as to when the outbreak would be resolved and visitors could return, as there are “so many unknowns” around its virulence and likely duration.

“We know the disease is endemic, so while it remains endemic across the UK it remains a lot trickier to predict,” she said.

Risk to humans is low 

Simon Lee, Farnes' general manager, said the Trust closed the islands in part to protect visitors from an “unprecedented wildlife tragedy”.

But the risk to humans is considered to be very low and people are rarely affected.

The “main reason” for the closure is to avoid the birds being disturbed, which causes them to “use up their energy” by moving around more, making them simultaneously “less resilient to disease” and more likely to spread it, Ms Potter said.

While the duration of the closure remains uncertain, Ms Potter said if the island were to readmit visitors before the outbreak is contained, some places may ask them to “clean feet with disinfectant”.

But she is not convinced that is “what we’d do on Farnes,” nor does she think it is feasible for visitors to wear full PPE.

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."