Birds

Sick as a Sea Bird… In The Deepings!

Words and Pictures by William Bowell

I love the change in seasons and in particular, the oncoming autumn. Don’t get me wrong, I love the summer, but this year’s has been a lengthy one.

The long hot, days, which saw record temperatures hit Britain, certainly took their toll on our countryside. Grass died back, meadows full of flowers burnt brown and whole hedgerows and mature tree leaves started to turn, not due to the change in seasons but because these veteran plants were dying before our eyes.

The rain of late August and September brought great relief. The local landscape seemed to bounce back, as so often nature does. The lawns went green; hedgerows with berries seem to be bursting with fruit. Autumn still felt early with fallen leaves but at least the rain had replenished our parched landscape.

As summer turned into autumn, the seabirds left their colonies, which was as much of a relief as the preceding rainfall. The news from the coast has been grim, from the spring, right through the summer. Not because of the drought but because of an invisible foe that became all too visible as the breeding season went on.

Birds of a pelagic nature often breed in close-knit colonies. These are great as they offer protection from predators and groups of these birds will go out fishing together. Overall, this leads to a better chance for the next generation of their species.

A High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or Bird Flu was reportedly sweeping through seabird colonies. At first it seemed that Shetland was hit worst but soon it began to emerge that this deadly virus was decimating colonies right down the east coast of Britain. And then not just Britain; Europe and even America too.

I was relieved when visiting Shetland in late August not to find tons of birds with HPAI flapping about helplessly. Indeed, we didn’t see any. Although we saw several dead Gannets and Kittiwakes floating in the sea, lost to bird flu, we didn’t see the carnage I expected This is most likely due to the fact many colonies had already departed for the winter on the sea.

You can therefore imagine my surprise, that when I had returned to the Deepings for less than a week, I stumbled upon a Gannet at Deeping Lakes! My surprise turned to dread when it became apparent this beautiful, special seabird had clearly got the dreadful virus. The eyes were dark, when the iris should have been blue and the bird was approachable and although Gannets can get driven inland during inclement weather; on a clear sunny day, with little wind, this majestic bird simply shouldn’t have been there!

As I watched the bird haul itself out the water and have a rest on the shore, it fell asleep, perhaps for the last time, I thought. But this plucky bird woke up and an inquisitive and angry local swan got a nasty nip when it tried to have a go! This encounter between the two was a double-edged sword. A) I will never see a Swan and Gannet interact again and B) the Gannet could have given the Swan the virus, which in turn could see trouble for the masses of freshwater waterfowl that seek refuge on the reserve.

Eventually, after a little preen, the bird took off but only to crash land back on the pit, unable to see where it was heading. Later than evening it had hauled itself onto an island, where its body remained the next morning. Thanks to the quick work of the Lincs Wildlife Trust, the body was retrieved to try to mitigate the risk to the local wildfowl and predator/ scavenger populations.

A few days later, another visit to the reserve and I found another sick seabird, this time a Kittiwake. This cute, neat gull is the original seagull, breeding exclusively on the coast and spending all year on and over the waves of the sea. Sadly, once again, by sundown this moribund bird had succumbed.

Britain is home to some of the world’s most important seabird colonies. They are important because they hold such huge quantities of the world’s populations of some species. For example, Scotland is home to 56% of the world’s population of Great Skuas and

Gannet

around two-thirds of the world’s population of Northern Gannet breed on the British Isles.

Last year news from across the Europe and America of various populations of bird being affected by the disease was quite distressing. Hope that this year the virus would be weaker and less virulent were soon proven otherwise as reports filtered in from various colonies right up and down the east coast being decimated by the deadly peril. Indeed, it’s affecting birds and causing them to get lost inland and potentially spread bird flu to new populations.

As you can imagine dear reader, this hasn’t been the easiest thing to write about. Nor is it the happiest thing to read about (don’t worry; normal service will be resumed next month!). Although the virus poses little threat to humans, it’s been quite a challenge seeing the photos of bin bags full of birds from the coast on social media over the summer and certainly has played on my mind; are we witnessing the start of the populations collapsing? Can nature bounce back like it did after this summer’s drought?

Whatever the answer, this summer has shown to me how fragile our natural world around us. It commands our respect, for its future. And ours. And there are worse things to do than write to your local government representatives and ask them to demand better conditions in intensive poultry farms, where the bird flu originates…

If you find a live or dead bird and suspect it of having bird flu then please follow the government guidelines which can found at www.gov.uk/guidance/avianinfluenza-bird-flu

Great Skua

Will works at Grasmere Farm in Deeping St James (with a butcher’s and deli in Market Gate, Market Deeping) but in his spare time enjoys wildlife watching locally and across the country. He is also a keen photographer. Many of his images can be found at http://justwildimages.blogspot.co.uk/ and photo cards can be found for sale at Market Gate Deli in Market Deeping.