NEW CONCERNS THAT BIRDS ON HUMBER ESTUARY COULD FALL VICTIM TO AVIAN FLU

Vulnerable - knot feeding on Cleethorpes Beach

FEARS have been voiced that thousands of  birds in the Humber Estuary could succumb to a deadly strain of avian flu.

It follows reports that more than 1,000 knot - a wading bird species familiar on Grimsby and Cleethorpes mudflats - have been found dead or dying in Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea over the past few days.

Bird flu used to be blamed on infected starlings flying to the UK from Russia and Siberia during autumn and winter.

However, latest scientific thinking is that the disease is a by-product of the global poultry-industry.

In the UK, cases seem mostly to have occurred in the West Country, particularly on the Severn Estuary where many mute swans have lost their lives.

To date, East Coast estuary birds seem to have been spared, but, at this time of year, many - waders, waterfowl and gulls - regularly cross back and forth across the North Sea, especially in hard weather.

At Spurn Bird Observatory, a spokesperson comments: "There is the real chance that birds on the Humber may become infected."

Anyone seeing sick gulls, waders or wildfowl can contact a special Defra hotline:  03459 33 55 77 - option 7

Hard hits - swans on the River Severn