H5N1 found at Lincolnshire farm
A commercial duck breeding flock near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire was confirmed positive for H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza, prompting a cull days after national housing restrictions were lifted. (poultrynews.co.uk) Local reporting noted the timing of the discovery—two days after restrictions eased—and the immediate animal‑health response. (herefordtimes.com)
A duck breeding farm near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire was confirmed with H5N1 bird flu on April 11, and the flock is being culled. (gov.uk) The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Animal and Plant Health Agency set a 3-kilometre protection zone and a 10-kilometre surveillance zone around the site. Those restrictions remain in force while officials complete disease-control checks. (gov.uk; poultrynews.co.uk) The case landed two days after England and Wales lifted mandatory housing rules for poultry on April 9. Those national rules had been in place since November 6, 2025, but they still apply inside local protection zones and captive bird monitoring zones. (gov.uk; fwi.co.uk) Housing rules tell keepers to keep birds indoors; a protection zone is the tighter ring around an outbreak where movement controls and extra precautions apply. The April 2 government notice said birds could go back outside nationally because risk had fallen, but strict biosecurity rules stayed in place across England, Scotland and Wales. (gov.uk) That left farmers in a split system: national housing rules ended, but local outbreak controls could restart immediately around any infected premises. Free-range producers inside the Lincolnshire zones now have to keep birds housed again. (gov.uk; fwi.co.uk) The infected site was a commercial duck breeding flock, not a backyard holding. Farmers Weekly reported that the birds at a breeding duck unit would have been indoors anyway, even before the wider housing order was lifted. (poultrynews.co.uk; fwi.co.uk) Government guidance said the national housing order was lifted because the risk in wild birds and poultry had reduced, not disappeared. Poultry News reported that the risk of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds was still rated high in Great Britain, while poultry exposure was rated medium with poor biosecurity and low with stringent biosecurity. (gov.uk; poultrynews.co.uk) Farmers Weekly said this was the first United Kingdom case in more than a month, and the 97th case in the 2025-26 season since October 1, 2025. The same report said that total is above the previous two seasons but less than half the 2022-23 peak. (fwi.co.uk) For now, the Lincolnshire outbreak resets the clock locally: the flock will be destroyed, movements around the farm are restricted, and keepers in the zone must wait for surveillance to finish before controls can be lifted. (gov.uk; poultrynews.co.uk)
