Going viral

This year, in Orkney, wildlife news has been dominated by one topic, bird flu. This might please Stoats, as they've been in the headlines a little less, but everyone else is very concerned about the effect on seabird, wader and wildfowl numbers.

Scotland holds 46% of the world population of Northern Gannets and 60% of the world population of Great Skuas. It has been heart-breaking to witness so many dead and dying individuals of these two species during the breeding season. And dozens more species are affected by the disease.

The current outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) amongst domestic and wild birds is the worst ever seen in the UK. Monitoring by DEFRA, whilst encompassing reports of wild bird mortality, seems to focus on the poultry industry. As a wildlife watcher this has been rather frustrating, with no outlet to be able to do anything to help wild birds.

Fortunately, NatureScot have now launched an HPAI surveillance project which allows volunteers to assist with monitoring stretches of coastline or freshwater shore to record and report their findings. This will be a twice-monthly survey through the Winter, and Megan and I have volunteered to walk two stretches of coastline near home, encompassing Houton and Orphir Bays.

Winter in Orkney can be challenging, so I expect we will end up juggling weather forecasts, tide times, available daylight and our energy levels to cover the surveys. However, it does feel good to finally be doing something to help.

On Saturday afternoon, we walked the high tide line around Houton Bay and learnt that it is very important to allow enough time for the survey before the sun sets!

A Grey Seal close in to the shore

A Crystal Jellyfish

Common Guillemot

We only found one dead seabird, a Common Guillemot, a species which we would not expect to see in Orkney's coastal waters at this time of year.

On Sunday afternoon, and a little earlier than the day before, we ventured to Orphir Bay.

En route, a Brown Hare hunkered down in a field

A small flock of Turnstones negotiating wind and waves

Orphir Bay

More Turnstones

Orphir Bay

Common Guillemot

Puffin, again we wouldn't normally see these before May

Another Puffin

Also buried in the seaweed, a Grey Seal pup which didn't last long after leaving its natal beach

We also found the remains of a scavenged Kittiwake, identifiable only by its black wingtips and a Rook. Already we can see that this isn't going to be a happy volunteering experience, but other than donating to the British Trust for Ornithology's Avian Influenza appeal, it is a tangible way of doing something to help protect our wildlife.

The H5N1 strain of HPAI can pass to mammals, including humans, so photographs are as close as we go. As yet, a human catching HPAI is very unlikely to pass it on to another human, but the virus is continually mutating, so there remains the very real threat that it will crack the problem of human-to-human transmission. If that happens, then Covid, for all its horrors, will seem like a picnic.