Bird flu outbreaks ‘getting worse’, says swan marker

THE King’s Swan Marker has described avian influenza as becoming “more of a problem than it has ever been”.

David Barber leads representatives of the Crown and the Vintners’ and Dyers’ Livery Companies to carry out a census of the bird population on the River Thames every July.

Mr Barber, who lives in Ibstone and has been part of the annual survey for 32 years, said no swans on the Thames had been impacted so far but numbers were still recovering from a previous outbreak.

The first case of the latest outbreak was confirmed in England last November and now there are more than 50 cases in England.

A mandatory housing prevention zone has been established across parts of the country, which means farmers must keep poultry fenced in or indoors to prevent contact with wild birds.

Mr Barber said: “I think avian influenza is becoming more of a problem than it has ever been.

“We have been pretty lucky over the last few years but two years ago it did go right through the whole year. At the moment, we haven’t had much of an outbreak on the River Thames. Further up, there have been a couple of cases but not in our area. Naturally, we are very concerned about it because avian flu is spreading pretty badly in different areas.”

Mr Barber said he hoped that the swans would be okay ahead of Henley Royal Regatta when they are moved from the Thames to Swan Support in Windsor.

He said that while the Thames area had been generally lucky with avian flu in the past, numbers were depleted following a bad bout of the disease in 2022.

He said: “Two or three years ago we had quite a few swans die. At Windsor, over one weekend, we had nearly 70 swans die, which was absolutely horrendous.

“The affected swans, they paddle like mad in a circle and their heads go in and out of the water and it’s horrific.

“If we see any like that, naturally they have to be put down rapidly.”

Mr Barber said that previous outbreaks of the disease were still affecting cygnet numbers today, which have decreased year on year.

He said: “Last year was 84 cygnets, the year before that was 96 cygnets and before that, we were up in the 140s. So the flu has affected the population quite a lot.”

As well as in birds, a number of avian influenza cases has also been confirmed in non-avian wildlife.

Last month, a case of avian influenza was found in a sheep in Yorkshire. It is thought to be the first time in the world a case of the disease has been detected in the animal. In Norfolk, more than a dozen grey seals reportedly had the disease as well as foxes in Scotland.

A person working on a farm in the West Midlands also contracted the disease.