Avian flu has struck the internationally-important Coquet Island off Northumberland which is home to 82,000 seabirds.
The RSPB sanctuary also has the UK’s only roseate tern colony in the UK, which was driven to the brink of extinction in the 19th century. The disease has struck all four tern species on the island – roseate, common, sandwich and Arctic – plus gulls and eider ducks.
The island is also an important location for breeding puffins but so far there are no reported deaths for this species. Though the island is not open to the public, staff activity has been minimised and fencing erected to help prevent birds moving between different parts of the nesting colonies.
