Tag: bird flu

Chocolate and oatcakes

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Afternoon tea, a couple of cheese ant tomato Staffordshire oatcakes with a dab of brown sauce and a hot chocolate with squirty cream, marshmallows and a tiny jammy dodger biscuit with a ram heart at its centre, presumably for valentines day? (which I have hubby). We had this at Westport Lake visitors centre. We sat on the balcony in a slightly chilly breeze, overlooking the lake. The geese were calling, I think they wanted bird food. But we couldn’t feed them because there us bird flu in the area and feeding a flock can help spread it. The latest news is that it has jumped species to small mammals which is very worrying. Anyway, sorry to put a downer on this post!

Swanning about

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Swan from a couple of years ago, changing from plumage as a cygnet (young Swan) , I guess the brown helps camouflage it. I haven’t been out anywhere for weeks, so I have not seen many birds recently. This photo was taken on a walk round Westport Lake. More worrying is the prevalence of bird flu in the UK which was around in the summer and has been continuing over the last few months. Its frightening that so many birds and animals are being affected by disease. It says something about humans interference with nature that these things are happening. Recent studies have found that the bird flu virus survives in open water for months and that it is able to infect birds that migrate to those lakes and pools, making them ill when they arrive.

I hope this bird has had a good and healthy life. I don’t know how the disease can be prevented.

Cygnet

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Cygnet under the weeping willows at Westport Lake this weekend.

A Cygnet is the name of a young Swan, this will be one from last spring. It’s white feathers are starting to come through. As it moults after winter it should lose the brown feathers and become fully white. Like in the story the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson, where the duckling is in reality a young Swan.

I wanted to feed the wild birds while I was there but the Wildlife Trust are not selling bird food. There is bird flu in the country and when they come together to feed it can spread between the geese and ducks and swans, moorhens and coots. So sad to see. Hopefully they will be OK and the population will recover soon.

Swanning about

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At this time of year wild birds need food. But sadly some of them are suffering from Bird Flu. It’s hard to know which ones are ill unless they display odd behaviour. I’m not sure what you should do, but we regularly go to our local Staffordshire Wildlife centre so I think it’s best to ask them for advice.

There are so many viruses around these days, including Swine Flu, Sars, Mers and other illnesses. I think if there is a vaccination against the ones that harm humans they should be used. Not just for rich countries, but for everyone. Rich or Poor. But we should also take care of wildlife. There is too much harm in the world. We need to find a balance.