Bird Flu: Seabirds start showing symptoms on the Moray Firth

By Donna MacAllister

November 9 2022, 9:31 am

A Razorbill showing symptoms of bird flu at the Moray Firth. Image: Peter Stronach

Seabirds are dying on the Moray Firth with signs of suspected bird flu.

Distressing footage of a herring gull and a razorbill filmed in the last few hours is a recreation of the difficult scenes that started circulating around this time last year.

The dying birds recorded by Highland ecologist Peter Stronach are displaying all the signs of bird flu.

He also found a dying pink-footed goose nearby.

And here is the herring gull, just heartbreaking to be seeing all this yet again!, never ending… #avianflu pic.twitter.com/hM4G7qNFXq

— Peter Stronach 🦅🐳🐝🌲 (@macstronach) November 8, 2022

NatureScot said its staff went out today to take samples for testing with results available in “a week or two”.

‘Bird Flu seems to be never-ending’

Peter Stronach on Brora Beach in May raising concerns about the number of dead seabirds washing ashore. Image: Sandy McCook

Peter has been at the forefront of the gruesome cataloguing of sick birdlife amid recent outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

He spotted birds of all kinds like pink-footed geese, eider ducks, cormorants, curlews and a puffin lying lifeless or struggling around the shorelines of Littleferry and Loch Fleet, just south of Golspie during earlier outbreaks.

Conservationists are still unclear about exactly what they can do to slow or prevent the disease from spreading.

Thousands of seabirds, like this gannet at Balmedie Beach in Aberdeenshire, have died across Scotland amid a major outbreak of bird flu. Image: Paul Glendell

UK-wide experts are coming together this week to brainstorm how best to respond to bird flu.

Scores of experts are expected to attend an online forum hosted by The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), which has staff based in Aberdeen.

Helen Baker, marine species team leader at JNCC, said: “This the first UK-wide gathering.

“NatureScot has set-up a task force that brings together a range of experts and they held a meeting with a Scottish focus a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first attempt at bringing together the thinking of experts from across the UK, and also drawing on international experts too to really help our thinking to address what has been a UK-wide issue this year.”

In a bid to share information quickly, NatureScot has set up a surveillance network for bird flu this winter.

The current 2022/23 HPAI outbreak season runs from October 1.

This is the first time Peter Stronach has seen seabirds displaying the symptoms in the current outbreak season.