Shocking pictures show how avian flu has wiped through the world's largest northern gannet colony. Bass Rock, an island off the coast of North Berwick, is home to more than 150,000 breeding gannets each year.
But stark images between September 2020 and June 2022 show the drastic change in the numbers nesting and caring for their young. The Scottish Seabird Centre suspended all of its landing trips to Bass Rock to avoid causing disturbance to the colony and the minimise risks of spreading the disease.
Experts said the full extent of the flu is not yet known. Susan Davies, CEO of the Scottish Seabird Centre said: "These birds are from the world's largest northern gannet colony on the Bass Rock in East Lothian which is widely recognised as an amazing wildlife spectacle.
"Each day the story unfolds further on the island. Patches within the colony, which would have been packed tightly with noisy and boisterous gannets sharing the responsibility of protecting their precious eggs and feeding young chicks (gugas), are becoming more sparsely occupied as each day passes.
"We feel powerless. We can only watch and monitor the passage of the disease as it spreads through the colony."
The pictures come as a spate of seal deaths caused by bird flu were recorded this week.
Harbour and gray seals were found dead in America after a previous outbreak in 2014 was said to have killed almost 10 per cent of the same mammals in Europe.
A spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries, which is responsible for the stewardship of America's oceans, said: "On July 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed that samples from four stranded seals in Maine have tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1.
"All of these animals had recently died or required euthanasia."
There has yet to be any evidence of seals being affected by avian flu in the UK as of yet - with NatureScot, the public body responsible for natural heritage, confirming it had yet to receive any reports.
A spokesperson said: “Across government and partners we have monitoring in place, but there is no indication that Avian flu has moved to the seal population in Scotland at this point.”
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