Bird Gatherings can now include waterfowl
From 12pm on the 26 April 2024 gatherings of all poultry including anseriforme birds (for example ducks and geese) are permitted in England provided you: follow and meet the requirements of the poultry gathering general licence notify the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) of the gathering at least 7 days before the event. Gatherings of […]
Gatherings allowed, but not for waterfowl
A small easement in the gatherings ban has been announced as from tomorrow. The full announcement is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/bird-flu-latest-situation-avian-influenza-prevention-zone-declared-across-great-britain Please make sure anyone who asks about this reads the WHOLE release, particularly this, paragraphs 10 and 11: ‘Gatherings of Anseriforme poultry and Anseriforme birds including ducks, geese and swans are not permitted. These changes only […]
Swans killed in Essex
As waterfowl lovers, it is hard to understand why anyone takes pleasure harming these beautiful creatures. Large, close and slow moving, they could not even be described as ‘sporting’ targets. Following catapult attacks on four Mute Swans early in the new year, 2 firms with local connections have each offered £1000 for information leading to […]
Pal-Mates … weekend web tip
What’s in a name — Maned Duck or Maned Goose? Life is a gradient of relatedness and what taxonomy tries to do is put it in that order. When the common names were thought up for waterfowl they were either called a duck or a goose according to how we traditionally recognised each — ‘ducks’ […]
Housing measures now apply to Northern Ireland and from Friday also to Wales
The requirement to house our birds was announced for Northern Ireland today. On Friday 2nd December it will also apply to Wales. The details of these housing orders are broadly similar to those in force in England. Full specific details can be found for each administration: https://www.gov.uk/animal-disease-cases-england/avian-influenza-prevention-zone-aipz-including-housing-measures-the-whole-of-england https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/news/avian-housing-order-introduced-ni https://gov.wales/avian-influenza-bird-flu-latest-update The ability to keep waterfowl under […]
Pal-Mates … weekend web tip
New bird flu cases are coming up most days. Is there anything that can save your birds if you are infected? Most of East Anglia is subject to a poultry (this includes waterfowl) housing order now, but it is quite likely that other areas will be added if there are more clusters of outbreaks. For […]
Avian Influenza vaccine
We do get asked about vaccines for bird flu; the Head of Virology for APHA was on Farming Today yesterday. You can listen to the broadcast on BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001cp3m We asked APHA for comment, they are fully behind the content of this broadcast and confirmed that all research on vaccines is being monitored. It […]
Pal-Mates … weekend web tip
Confident you know your geese? The Grey Geese is the collective group of species including the Greylag, Pink-footed and Bean Geese. The Black Geese includes the Brents and Barnacles. As migration season approaches, the BTO have re-issued a video guide, aimed at birders, to identify geese arriving to winter in the UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHh1swq_BOs […]
Pal-Mates … weekend web tip
Did you know it’s World Elephant Day? Critically Endangered African Forest Elephants share their dense rain forest habitat and surrounding areas with several waterfowl. In the Congo Basin you’ll find some species we are familiar with in waterfowl collections, and some that are really challenging. White-faced Whistling Duck Dendrocygna viduata (pictured). Fulvous Whistling […]
Pal-Mates … weekend web tip
W is for wild, introduced or domestic? When we talk about wild waterfowl in Britain, we usually mean the birds ‘ordinarily resident’ here, in their wild colour and form. Some, like the Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) or Egyptian Geese (Alopochen aegyptiaca) have been released and have naturalised, but they don’t really belong here. Introduced species […]
