Lots of Brent geese around here at the moment; they flew in with all the latest gossip from Canada and Scandinavia.

Unfortunately our neighbours in France and Britain are suffering a severe outbreak of avian flu; a few cases have been found in Ireland in whooper swans, which migrate from Iceland.

Was watching the English (and increasingly British-nationalist) programme Countryfile last night; a lot of domestic fowl are now having to be reared under cover to keep them from wild birds, and they were theorising that bird flu might be becoming endemic in Britain, and that vaccination, which they said was currently forbidden in stocks reared to provide food to the public (not sure if they meant eggs or meat or both) might be a solution.