More than 1,000 dead birds cleared from Aberdeenshire beaches in just three days

Teams dressed in full PPE have been clearing coastlines across the region.

By David Mackay

July 12 2023, 6:45 pm

Stonehaven beach has been one of the worst hit. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

More than 1,000 dead birds have now been cleared from Aberdeenshire beaches this week amidst continuing concerns about bird flu.

The Scottish Government has only confirmed cases at a farm near Banff and premises near Forres in recent weeks.

However, beach walkers across the north-east are still reporting seeing hundreds of dead birds at a time on shorelines.

Where are the dead birds being found?

Today Aberdeenshire Council confirmed its teams have removed a staggering 1,040 dead birds from the coastline this week.

Frontline crews dressed in full PPE have cleared more than 520 birds from Stonehaven over the last three days and a further 120 from Cruden Bay.

Two dead birds lying on a beach. — Dead birds have also been seen on Aberdeen beach. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

Meanwhile, today, more than 150 were picked up from Balmedie as well as a further 250 from Inverbervie.

It is not known if bird flu is definitely causing the large amount of dead birds in Aberdeenshire, with experts highlighting a lack of food and bad weather are capable of causing similar events.

Aberdeenshire Council has paid tribute to its staff from various departments stepping forward to help with the operation and future collections.

A spokesman added: “We have heard reports of people trying to assist in the clean-up by burying or binning bird carcasses, but please – for your own safety- leave the disposal to us.

Beach walker Mike Shepherd snapped the devastation on Cruden Bay. Image: Mike Shepherd/ DC Thomson.

“Thanks to our very supportive residents and community groups who have been reporting sightings, we’ve again been able to quickly map out and prioritise removal of the birds and we will be getting to all these areas just as soon as we can.”