LONDON: Some UK seabird populations are struggling “widespread and extensive declines” following extreme hen flu outbreaks in recent years, a brand new examine assessing its impression for the primary time warned in the present day.
The report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and different conservationists discovered 9 of 13 species had decreased in numbers by over 10% since earlier surveys made between 2015 and 2021.
It follows the present H5N1 pressure of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) turning into widespread in UK wild hen populations, notably in seabirds and waterfowl, for the reason that summer time of 2021.
It additionally comes after conservationists warned final yr that almost half of the breeding seabird species within the UK and Ireland have declined prior to now 20 years, with local weather change one of many attainable causes.
The RSPB known as the latest report “highly concerning” and mentioned reported hen deaths in 2022 “showed that HPAI had become one of the biggest immediate conservation threats faced by many of our seabird species”.
The examine straight attributed declines for 3 species – Gannet, Great Skua, and Roseate Tern – to hen flu.
All three had beforehand been rising in numbers within the UK previous to the HPAI outbreak.
The UK is accountable for a excessive proportion of the worldwide inhabitants of Great Skua birds, which noticed the largest fall in its numbers of the trio.
The report concluded the hen flu pressure was additionally “the likely cause” of dwindling numbers of Sandwich and Common Terns.
Further work is required to raised perceive the potential position of HPAI within the numbers recorded of the remaining species, which embody varied gulls, Arctic Skua, Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, and Guillemot.
“This new study shows that bird flu can be added to the long list of things that are devastating our seabirds,” the RSPB’s director of conservation, Katie-jo Luxton, mentioned.
