The King’s swans are at risk of being wiped out from a surge in bird flu.
The current avian influenza outbreak has seen higher numbers of cases in the UK than last winter, although it is not yet as the previous year which was the largest outbreak the country has ever experienced.
It is understood that the particular strain spreading impacts waterfowl species the most, such as swans and geese.
King Charles holds the historical right to claim all unmarked mute swans in open waters, although this right is primarily exercised on certain stretches of the River Thames.
Dr Teresa Frost, head of waterbird monitoring at the British Trust for Ornithology said: “We are keeping a close eye on the situation in wild birds, with the Animal and Plant Health Agency reporting confirmed cases in over thirty different species since the beginning of October.
“Swans appear to be particularly affected, with tests having confirmed H5N1 in 131 individual Mute Swans and 28 Whooper Swans. Canada Geese, Pink-footed Geese, Barnacle Geese and Greylag Geese are also affected along with many other waterbirds and raptors.”
She said there have been reports of 155 Mute Swan deaths from 75 places and 86 Whooper Swan deaths from 18 places in the last two months.
Both species have been seen dying in double digit numbers at the worst affected sites across the country, Dr Frost added.
She added: “We ask volunteers to tell us if multiple birds have died, as this data is not well captured by the government surveillance.
“We published a paper earlier in the year where we found that at least 965 Mute Swans were reported dead in 2021-23 where bird flu was suspected as the cause, so its concerning that we are getting so many reports this winter on top of that. We had already started to see signals in our annual statistics that this ongoing issue could be impacting the population at a national level, with the most recent national winter population index for Mute Swan being the lowest since the winter of 1996-97, so we will be continuing to monitor the impacts.”
Several dead swans across the country have tested positive for bird flu, it has emerged.
King Charles holds the historical right to claim all unmarked mute swans in open waters, although this right is primarily exercised on certain stretches of the River Thames.
A dead swan retrieved from a lake in this month tested positive for avian flu, a council said.
Witney Town Council said a second swan in Witney Lake, Oxfordshire, had also died since the disease was detected in the area.
Meanwhile six swans at Tongwell Lake have died in the last two weeks in Milton Keynes, with volunteers predicting the situation could get “much worse” before it gets better.
It comes as avian flu outbreaks on game farms in England have cost taxpayers more than £100 million since 2020, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
This includes the cost of culling and the cost of compensation.
There have been 26 outbreaks of bird flu on game farms in England in the last five years.
A spokeswoman for Animal Aid, who sent through the FOI, said: “The evidence reveals that, despite the threat of avian flu to wild bird populations, the shooting industry is profiting from the lives and deaths of the millions of birds purpose bred for shooting – either from selling them to be shot or from claiming compensation from the government following an outbreak of avian flu.
“As always, it’s a greedy and cruel industry winning, at the expense of the poor pheasants and partridges who are treated as commodities to be brought into the world and then killed – and, at the expense of the wild birds who are potentially put at risk by the release of millions of game birds.”
“In addition to the many harms done to flora and fauna by the massive release of pheasants and partridges into the countryside every year, it is entirely reckless to continue to mass produce pheasants and partridges for shooting while there is the threat of avian flu, especially when disease transmission between captive reared birds and wild birds has been highlighted.”