Undated handout photo issued by The Wildlife Trusts of a Sandwich tern.Image source, Tom Hibbert/The Wildlife Trusts
Image caption, Thousands of sandwich terns breed at Scolt Head Island nature reserve

A nature reserve in Norfolk has lost hundreds of sea birds to bird flu.

Experts say that a colony of sandwich terns on Scolt Head Island may have lost most of its young to the disease.

gannets, terns, and great skuas are some of the birds that are affected by bird flu.

The government confirmed the outbreak and said it was keeping an eye on the birds.

4,000 pairs of sandwich terns live in the nature reserve off the north Norfolk coast.

The warden posed the question "are we witnessing the collapse of seabird colonies around the North Sea?" after posting images of binbags of carcasses on the social networking site.

The British Trust for Ornithology said that the impact of bird flu was devastating.

Scolt Head IslandImage source, Getty Images
Image caption, Scolt Head Island's saltmarshes are considered to be among the finest in the UK

Sea birds have a single breeding season and can lay up to two eggs.

According to Viola Ross-Smith of BTO, birds can't bounce back quickly from mass mortality.

They are already under pressure from other threats and it's awful to watch.

We don't know the long-term impact for a while.

map of Scolt Head Island
Image caption, The island is on a remote part of the north Norfolk coast

The virus has been found along the coast from the Shetlands to the Channel Islands.

A colony of great skuas in the Shetlands, which makes up 40% of the global breeding population, have been hit by bird flu.

Hundreds of sea birds have died in the north-eastern part of the country.

The public is urged to report dead birds to the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs if they see them.

She said it was the best they could do at the moment.

Staff are bagging the corpses, which is particularly important, as other species are scavengers.

The impact of bird flu on sea bird populations was "unprecedented".

He said that the government needs to get a grip on this in order to do better.

The dead sandwich terns had tested positive for bird flu.

The group is working with groups to study its impact.

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