'Bird flu means my income has stopped' - falconer

Shropshire Falconry, near Wem, has had to close because of a bird flu outbreak nearby

"My income's just completely stopped at the moment."

That is the grim assessment of Steve Cross, who is counting the cost of bird flu. But rather than the usual enterprise you might expect to be compromised, he runs Shropshire Falconry which offers up-close bird experiences at community displays and private events including weddings.

The business, near Wem, has had to temporarily stop providing services because of an outbreak of bird flu at a nearby poultry farm.

"To say 'devastated' is probably not using the right word," Mr Cross said of the challenge, adding he feared losing birds as they were his colleagues and friends - some of which he had known for 30 years.

The outbreak, at Griffiths Family Farms, has meant a 3km (1.86 miles) protection zone has been put in place, as well as a 10km (6.21 miles) surveillance zone.

As a result, Mr Cross said, all his own birds had been "locked down now, they are in their aviaries". And guarding against transmission, he added: "Their aviary roofs are covered - so there shouldn't be much case of bird faeces dropping into the aviary."

Shropshire Falconry takes birds to places such as schools, care homes and weddings, and has among its featured animals a grey owl.

His business takes birds into places such as care homes and schools, and takes part in shows. It even offers birds to fly wedding rings down the aisle.

"[But now] I can't go out, can't visit the children at schools," he told the BBC.

"We've got two weddings coming up that I now can't do, people have had to be refunded and it's just difficult."

Mr Cross added that to lose any of the birds would be an "absolute disaster".

"I've got birds here that I've worked with... for nearly 30 years," he said.

"They are my work colleagues and my friends essentially, I work with them every single day.

"Everybody knows them, they've done film shoots, they've done pop videos, they've been to countless schools many times, so they actually know the bird by name."

Mr Cross said being locked down also made it difficult to exercise the birds.

"We are lucky enough that we've got on site an indoor training area… I can still exercise some of the birds, the smaller birds - the owls and things - but obviously if you're flying a large falcon you can't really fly it indoors.

"We're just being as vigilant as we possibly can."