A further six outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI, also known as Bird Flu) have been reported from across England, Wales and Scotland in the last week.
These will have implications for anyone planning to release gamebirds in the surrounding areas as we head towards the opening of the Red-legged Partridge and Pheasant shooting seasons.
Ten days ago I blogged about four new outbreaks in England, including one on a Pheasant shoot in Exmoor National Park (see here). Here are the latest six cases:
1 August 2025 – near Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (ref: AIV2025/55). Centred on grid ref NJ6515959666.
6 August 2025 – another case near Attleborough, Breckland, Norfolk (ref: AIV2025/56). Centred on grid ref TL9879291572.
8 August 2025 – near Seaton, East Devon (AIV2025/58). Centred on grid ref SY2166189959.
8 August 2025 – suspected outbreak near Woodbridge, East Suffolk (ref: AIVSOS2025/03). Centred on grid ref TM1957250006.
8 August 2025 – near Lifton, West Devon (ref: AIV2025/59). Centred on grid ref SX4289487838.
8 August 2025 – near Dulas, Anglesey, Wales. Centred on grid ref SH4689987876.
Protection and Surveillance Zones have been imposed around these sites which restrict the movement of poultry and introduce strict biosecurity measures and monitoring. Gamebird releases are also banned in these areas, although whether there’s any monitoring of this is highly questionable, especially as the authorities haven’t been notified about the release locations of millions of Pheasants (see here).
As I’ve written previously, Defra had sensibly withdrawn General Licence 45 in March this year – this is the licence under which restricted numbers of gamebirds (Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges) can be released on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas – which was withdrawn due to Defra’s legitimate concerns about the spread of HPAI.
Instead of being able to use GL45 this year, Natural England said that gamebird shoots could apply for individual licences to release gamebirds on or close to SPAs, but that only some licences would be permitted and only with a delayed release date for the poults, whereas licences for many other SPAs would be unlikely to be issued at all (see earlier blog here).
BASC has started legal proceedings against Natural England’s interpretation of the law around individual licences and we await Natural England’s response to BASC’s Pre-Action Protocol (PAP) letter.
With an increasing number of Bird Flu outbreaks across the UK, Natural England’s caution looks to be justified.
Raptor Persecution UK 
N.B. The Pheasant poults in the travelling cages in the photo will be around 6 weeks old & typically, for young birds kept in close confinement & cramped conditions, they have all had their tail feathers pulled out by other birds & some shoulder feathers, too. The natural instinct for young birds like these is to peck at anything in case it may be food, so when blood quills start appearing they’ll all peck at those & if they bleed, they’ll all peck at the blood. When kept in such unnaturally cramped conditions & large numbers, this pecking action can very quickly lead to severe injury & death. Birds can end up with their whole guts eaten out by other curious poults. For this reason, the poults usually either have the ends of their top mandible removed, to stop them being able to grip properly with their beak, or they have little plastic clips attached to their beaks, via their nostrils. Both are rather cruel practices which must be uncomfortable for the birds.
Yep, they go out on roads and in “tut’countryside” on wagons like that. And then some come back on the same roads and are processed and marketed as “wild game….or a sustainable harvest” , etc, etc. Something very amazing must happen in the intervening weeks / few months while in the pens or while briefly at semi-liberty on the estate for those birds to be able to be then factually described as “wild”. Unless it is a sham and a big lie, of course.