Bird flu: Further cases confirmed in Weymouth

More wild birds, including swans, have tested positive for bird flu at a coastal site in Dorset.

Landowner Ilchester Estates said "a number" of mute swans and a Canada goose had tested positive for the H5N8 strain on the Fleet at Weymouth, including Abbotsbury Swannery.

It said it was working with Public Health England to "manage the situation".

Earlier this month a wild goose tested positive in Weymouth.

Ilchester Estates said any dead birds found at Chesil Bank and the Fleet Nature Reserve during daily monitoring would be collected and sent for testing.

"Public Health England and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) continue to manage the situation throughout the country to which we offer our full cooperation," a spokeswoman said.

Abbotsbury Swannery is currently closed to the public for the winter. It is expected to reopen in the spring.

Members of the public are being advised to walk on footpaths at the Fleet, to prevent the spread of the virus, and not to touch any dead birds but instead report them to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Three wild geese found dead last month at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, also tested positive for H5N8.

The same strain, which has recently been found in Germany and the Netherlands, infected a poultry farm in Frodsham, Cheshire, earlier this month.

On Sunday is was announced all 10,500 turkeys at a farm in North Yorkshire were due to be culled after an outbreak at the site.

Public Health England said: "To date the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not confirmed any cases of H5N8 in humans and the risk to the public is considered very low.

"As a precaution the local Health Protection Team has been liaising with the swannery to offer routine health advice to those working in close proximity to birds on the reserve."