Professor Ian Brown, the Director of Scientific Services at the government's Animal and Plant Health Agency stressed the need to be 'watchful' after thousands of gannets died as a result of the H5N1 virus last year.
Scientists are on high alert for a new influx of bird flu as seabirds return to the UK coast in large numbers for the nesting season.
"Gulls, which we know are very susceptible to this virus, can carry it and can shed it. So in theory they can introduce it into a colony. "Hopefully those birds will come back and will have a healthy breeding season and they won't be exposed to virus," said Prof Brown. Volunteers and wardens for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are checking colonies for sick birds and scanning the sea surface for any that have died.coast. So many gannets gather here that it is internationally important for the species.A National Trust ranger clearing dead birds from bird flu at Staple Island, off the coast of Northumberland, in December"We presume that's because one or both of the adults had died," he said.
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