Two of Norfolk's most familiar seabirds have been decimated by bird flu, warns a new report.
Numbers of Common Tern nests showed a 69pc decline on the north Norfolk coast, falling from 391 to 123 according to the study by the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology.
Nest numbers around The Wash showed a 59pc decline, falling from 148 to 60.
Sandwich Tern nests on the north Norfolk coast showed a 46pc decline, falling from 7,044 to 3,770.
Hundreds of the birds, which nest in colonies on the shingle, were found dead at Scolt Head, a Natural England reserve near Brancaster, the previous year.
One devastated warden posted on Twitter: “The stench of death is everywhere, dead and dying chicks litter the ground in uncountable numbers.”
Norfolk was in the eye of the storm throughout the pandemic, with the large number of species which migrate to the county at different times of the year helping the spread of the virus, which also decimated poultry flocks.
Around the UK coast, researchers also counted numbers of Gannet, Black-headed Gull, Great Skua, Herring Gull, Kittiwake, Roseate Tern and Guillemot for the latest report.
Skua were the worst hit, suffering declines of more than 80pc at some survey sites.
"This hugely important work comes after the recent Seabirds Count census which showed that our seabirds were already in serious trouble, with 62pc of species in decline in the UK," the report says.
"The results of these latest surveys demonstrate the need to take HPAI into account as a new and major threat to our internationally important seabird populations, which are facing numerous other challenges."
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