Thanks to Lisa Morgan for
providing me with an update on the Guillemot Avian Flu outbreak.

HPAI Avian Flu has now
been confirmed from the Pembrokeshire Guillemot corpses sent off for testing.
Guillemots are continuing to wash in along the Pembrokeshire coast.

The collection of corpses
is being coordinated by Pembrokeshire County Council, with assistance from the
Wildlife Trust, National Trust and the National Park. Collection work is being
concentrated on those beaches with more public use and hence more public health
risk, but please continue to report from all sites and the council will
endeavour to clear these too. There are regular multi-agency meetings to
coordinate the response so a lot is going on behind the scenes.

Reports of corpses should
be made to PCC, since DEFRA does not organise the collection of dead birds,
unless required for testing. No further guillemots will be tested but other
species that haven’t been tested yet in 2023 will be.

You may have read some
speculation in the media that the deaths are due to food shortage. These have
been largely dismissed by scientists.

Lisa Morgan at WTSWW has
asked me to thank PCC and all involved in the emergency planning response that
has now been ongoing since 8 July.

Peter Royle

Secretary Pembs Bird Group