shakin stevens Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 11 hours ago, Manish said: Other than spaced out behaviour how else can you tell if a bird has the flu?? Is it drinking night nurse? TBH if they arnt safe to eat I might not even take a gun out I’ve watched them fall out the sky when they set off in groups , or just get left behind in paddocks when they move on , it doesn’t take long before they die . you will know if the geese get it, it’s devastating what it does . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mat Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 15 hours ago, Manish said: Other than spaced out behaviour how else can you tell if a bird has the flu?? Is it drinking night nurse? TBH if they arnt safe to eat I might not even take a gun out Minimal risk according to official sources, just cook properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Big Mat said: Minimal risk according to official sources, just cook properly. It's not the cooking Matt it's the handling beforehand of the bird, the blood, then the dressing gutting etc., there lies the contact that's unavoidable. If it gets to the point, you need rubber gloves and a face mask to prepare a goose i think the simple answer is don't lift the gun Edited October 11, 2022 by bishop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave at kelton Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 We were just discussing this at last nights club committee meeting. We have all seem some very uncharacteristic behaviour in geese in the first few weeks of the season but not finding carcasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted October 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Dave at kelton said: We were just discussing this at last nights club committee meeting. We have all seem some very uncharacteristic behaviour in geese in the first few weeks of the season but not finding carcasses. At the moment I am not sure weather we have got the numbers of Pinks we would normally expect by now but it is early days yet , If the confirmed cases keep on rising I have got my doubts we will see the season out , on the bird flu website we have had ten cases so far in October and from the 12th there is a ban on releasing any Pheasants into the wild and all the footpaths around the Broads where you can expect to see wildfowl have now got Keep Out notices on the gates . I have seen a few cold weather bans in my time , are we likely to see a ban due to bird flu ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave at kelton Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 4 minutes ago, marsh man said: At the moment I am not sure weather we have got the numbers of Pinks we would normally expect by now but it is early days yet , If the confirmed cases keep on rising I have got my doubts we will see the season out , on the bird flu website we have had ten cases so far in October and from the 12th there is a ban on releasing any Pheasants into the wild and all the footpaths around the Broads where you can expect to see wildfowl have now got Keep Out notices on the gates . I have seen a few cold weather bans in my time , are we likely to see a ban due to bird flu ? We don’t have the pinks either. Good numbers early but now gone. We fought off a ban at the end of the season but it is not about banning fowling. You have to basically close the whole of the inner Solway much like foot and mouth. That means no fowling, walking bird watching, golf and the list goes on! Just picking on fowlers is not the answer, just an easy target! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck all Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 Is anyone actually picking on Wildfowlers ? As Cadman pointed out Martin Mere is closed to everyone, we must all try to do the responsible thing and not spread this disease, if we’re not careful and carry on regardless it won’t help anyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 10 hours ago, bishop said: It's not the cooking Matt it's the handling beforehand of the bird, the blood, then the dressing gutting etc., there lies the contact that's unavoidable. If it gets to the point, you need rubber gloves and a face mask to prepare a goose i think the simple answer is don't lift the gun This is indeed the problem and exactly how it makes the species jump into humans. That is the real fear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadman Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 What a great thread this is. Polite constructive debate with some really helpful views. Thanks to all who have posted. Some have expressed concerns about eating infected wildfowl. Quite rightly too as this is why we go wildfowling. The Food Standards Agency has stated - this is from the Gov site - that on the basis of current scientific evidence AI poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products including eggs are safe to eat. By consumers I assume they mean people buying and eating meat from supermarkets, butchers and farm shops etc. No mention of eating wild birds. Properly cooked is subjective, we are all aware of the risk of eating under cooked poultry, however a duck or goose is at its best underdone, thourough cooking especially if you like roast wildfowl renders them tough I think. The estuary where I go wildfowling locally, has become very public in recent years and we have had cases of AI and birds washing up. I do worry about the damage that could be caused for my local club by public perception of what we do. I agree with Dave that this goes for all users too. Duck all sums it up nicely in his last post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted October 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 12 hours ago, Dave at kelton said: We don’t have the pinks either. Good numbers early but now gone. We fought off a ban at the end of the season but it is not about banning fowling. You have to basically close the whole of the inner Solway much like foot and mouth. That means no fowling, walking bird watching, golf and the list goes on! Just picking on fowlers is not the answer, just an easy target! Yes I agree with what you saying but around here it is now becoming headline news every day , only yesterday we had four more cases reported and I am sure more cases have gone undetected , or if the people did see some sick birds then they didn't report them , this morning I was talking to a pest control officer who done a job in the Broadland area , he was saying he went in the ladies garden and some of her Chickens didn't look that well , he asked her if her birds had birds flu and if she had reported them , she said she hadn't as she hadn't noticed anything wrong , he then went in a Pigeon loft and found some of the Pigeons were sick and a few dead ones laid dead on the floor , he then told the lady to ring up Defra and tell them what is happening , what the outcome was ? , that I haven't found out . From today all free range fowl and game birds that haven't been released have to be kept inside from now on , although I would have thought that most of the game birds have already been released . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanMc Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 It does look like it could go the same was as foot and mouth in early 2000's. I know all the trout fishing lakes for my club were off limits for the season at that time, seemed the right thing to do at the time and potentially made a small difference to the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 15 hours ago, Dave at kelton said: Just picking on fowlers is not the answer, just an easy target! But no doubt that is what will happen if there is one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 Let us hope it gets no worse than last season. around the south west we had various reports of large numbers of dead swans floating down the Severn etc and Slimbridge had dead birds lying around the site. they stopped feeding the wild birds and placed the 'pet' ones inside., but tbh we saw no real change to the fowling on the river. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartina2 Posted October 24, 2022 Report Share Posted October 24, 2022 On 03/10/2022 at 18:05, grahamch said: It hit the barnies on Solway hard largely as they are l think articially fed by Rspb and wwft on reserve ponds to attract a paying audience so are in unnatural densities thus spreading the virus. I can believe that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmo Posted November 13, 2022 Report Share Posted November 13, 2022 Pink numbers way way down by official counts up in Scotland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop Posted November 13, 2022 Report Share Posted November 13, 2022 (edited) Not good news m8. Ive seen a few pigeons behaving quite odd lately. Most likely flu. Saw a tern flutter up beside me a month or so ago and start nesting and staggering about before walking off and nesting again on the salting in the gloom. its head all over the place most certainly infected.it was eaten by a fox i noticed a few days later. My point is, if you have eyes to see and are in the countryside often it's not difficult to come across birds that are behaving strange due to infection Edited November 13, 2022 by bishop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted November 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Salmo said: Pink numbers way way down by official counts up in Scotland We keep saying they were a bit late as the weather was mild and the sugar beet campaign was also late making a start , now we are getting near the half way point to the inland wild fowling season this one have certainly got off to a slow start , I am out every morning with my dog and the sound of shots have few and far between with most mornings you don't hear a single shot , from what I have seen , we have got good numbers but nowhere like we have had in previous years , mind you , with bird flu cases reported nearly every day around here, this is one area they should avoid at all cost, we would certainly be a poorer place without them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Docleo Posted December 7, 2022 Report Share Posted December 7, 2022 I've read that there have been few suspect cases (geese) in Moray. Any updates from the north of Scotland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 On 07/12/2022 at 15:50, Docleo said: I've read that there have been few suspect cases (geese) in Moray. Any updates from the north of Scotland? We are pretty sure we shot a pink suffering from avian flu yesterday .Just totally confused and scared sat on the fields edge. Not "wounded" to the eye at least but its behavior mirrored that of a tern a month back i saw acting irrationally on the saltings and also a teal a few weeks back i saw acting very odd not a mile distant from this case. Sadly i think this is becoming common place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted December 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 53 minutes ago, bishop said: We are pretty sure we shot a pink suffering from avian flu yesterday .Just totally confused and scared sat on the fields edge. Not "wounded" to the eye at least but its behavior mirrored that of a tern a month back i saw acting irrationally on the saltings and also a teal a few weeks back i saw acting very odd not a mile distant from this case. Sadly i think this is becoming common place We are in the thick of it in Norfolk with loads of commercial poultry farmers already lost all of there birds and yet we haven't heard nothing from any wildfowl being washed on the estuary , earlier on they found dead and dying Swans on the Broads but since then it have gone quite , as they say , no news is good news . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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