At Bempton, most of the losses took place in August, when hundreds of gannet chicks died in the densest area of the colony at Staple Newk, and some dead adult birds were recorded on the sea.
Gannets nest at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, as over 250,000 seabirds flock to the chalk cliffs to find a mate and raise their young. The nature reserve, run by the RSPB, is best known for its breeding seabirds, including northern gannet, Atlantic puffin, razorbill, common guillemot, black-legged kittiwake and fulmar.
Mr O’Hara said:"Although it wasn't proven, it was very typical of bird flu. One chick would die and others would die around it, as you'd expect from a virus."If there is a positive it seems because of the way they nest on narrow ledges there wasn't much transmission. For most of the 13,000 pairs of gannets nesting elsewhere the impact"has been thankfully very small".Meanwhile kittiwakes had the best breeding season for over ten years with 44,000 pairs producing around 30,000 chicks.
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