• Published11 hours ago

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Bird flu has been confirmed at a nature reserve where 600 birds have been found dead in recent weeks.

Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset, has been closed since 16 June while tests were carried out.

The results from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed it was avian flu.

Dorset Wildlife Trust said it would “potentially have a serious impact on future populations” as most of the birds found dead were chicks.

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The charity said the outbreak happened at the height of the breeding season at the reserve “when hundreds of Sandwich terns, common terns and black headed gulls come to Poole Harbour and nest on the islands in the Brownsea lagoon”.