Bird table warning 'not official'

A swan was found in Scotland with the bird flu virus

Advice that people should disinfect bird tables to minimise avian flu risk is not official advice, Defra has said.

Wildlife experts in East Sussex made the suggestion after receiving "a high volume of calls" from people concerned about dead birds found in gardens.

Spokesman Trevor Weeks said most were found to have died from salmonella food poisoning but still urged people to use disinfectant to minimise bird flu risk.

Defra advice is for people to wash hands after contact with dead birds.

If people take normal precautions they should be fine Defra spokeswoman

The statement from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service followed the discovery of a swan with the H5N1 avian flu virus in Scotland.

After vets said that most of the birds found dead in East Sussex had died from salmonella, Mr Weeks said: "The most probable source of the infection was likely to be a bird table or feeder."

And backing a veterinary disinfectant manufacturer which has been giving away free samples in Sussex, he said: "Unhygienic bird tables can help the spread of bird flu so using this disinfectant can help prevent it."

'Not official advice'

But Defra said: "We have had one case in a swan in Scotland.

"Avian flu is not epidemic among birds in this country and we have to establish where the bird has come from and how it got the disease."

A spokeswoman said: "We are advising people to take hygiene precautions, but those are what they do for their own personal hygiene, such as washing hands with detergent if they have been in contact with a dead bird which they are worried about.

"One of the things most people do is clean out bird tables fairly regularly. We don't include it in official advice.

"It is not a disease that's easy to catch and if people take normal precautions they should be fine."