Avian flu cuts a deadly swathe through St Kilda seabird colony

A TROUBLING number of great skuas have died of avian flu on one of Scotland’s remotest islands, a seabird ranger has revealed.

Also known as bonxies, the birds have bred on the uninhabited Unesco World Heritage Site of St Kilda since 1963, but National Trust for Scotland (NTS) tracked only 66 breeding pairs this year as well as 133 deaths – double 2021’s total. Speaking to BBC Scotland, NTS seabird and marine ranger Craig Nisbet said: ‘Avian flu is impacting seabirds in an unprecedented way. It’s particularly worrying for everybody that works in seabird conservation.’ The St Kilda archipelago is the most remote outpost of the British Isles – it is home to one million seabirds and is the UK’s largest puffin breeding ground.