Bird flu has killed an estimated 30% of Alderney's gannet colony

Thousands of gannets migrate to Alderney to breed each year

Bird flu has killed an estimated 30% of Alderney's gannet colony, The Alderney Wildlife Trust has said.

The Trust believed the population had "not recovered" from an avian influenza outbreak in 2022 which killed hundreds of the sea birds.

Experts from the Trust initially thought the remaining gannets would recolonise the islands in 2023.

The Trust's Paul Belben said the speed of recovery was not a complete "surprise".

The colonies represented more than 1% of the global population, with about 6,000 pairs on Les Etacs and 2,700 on Ortac - the island's wetland sites.

Mr Belben said the exact number of birds lost still needed to be calculated.

"We're going to do a full release on the census count for 2023 in the coming weeks however numbers appear to have not recovered following avian bird flu," he said.

He added: "We wouldn't have expected the numbers to recover in a year so these figures aren't a surprise".

The sea birds retuned to Alderney for breeding earlier than expected this year on 11 February.

Tara Cox from the Alderney Wildlife Trust said it "varies year on year, but generally it's anywhere up to 16 February".

The majority of Alderney's gannets spend their winter months off the coast of North Africa.

Mrs Cox said seeing the birds return to the islands off Alderney was "quite a fantastic sight".

Alderney Wildlife Trust monitored the sea birds while they were in the area, including their breeding behaviour.

A webcam to view the gannets should be available on the trust's website from the end of February.

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