A magnificent remote island is home to 52,000 breeding pairs of puffins — and is also ground zero for a deadly disease.
Thousands visit the Isle of May each year to catch a glimpse of the magic.
It's a short — and at times choppy — trip from the Scottish mainland.
But these days when you land on the May, you are met with a warning.
Printed in clear chalk letters, an A-frame blackboard cautions of a present danger.
It's one that threatens the very life that the 1.5 kilometre-long Scottish island is known for.
The echoing calls of migratory seabirds are at risk of fading.Visitors must disinfect their shoes on arrival — one step to help prevent the spread of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (bird flu) that has killed hundreds of millions of seabirds worldwide and spread to other animals, including seals and cattle.
This year, 11 people have died after contracting the strain in Cambodia, India and Mexico.
Thousands of birds are dying, with no answers on how to stop the spread in wild populations.
The island's loch is ground zero, the epicentre of this outbreak.
A grim story
David Steel is the nature reserve's manager and monitors the island's life.
While it is usually a joy of a role, the onset of the H5N1 strain of high pathogenicity avian influenza has brought a darkness.
"We collected over 148 corpses of birds which had just died in the last five days of the strain H5N1," he said as he collected carcasses at the end of July.The very scale of bird populations that attract visitors to this Isle puts those birds at added risk.
H5N1 came ashore in the United Kingdom in 2021, spreading through saliva and guano.
It was first detected on the Isle of May in late summer 2022. Black-legged kittiwakes started to die around the island.
Seven species were eventually affected, prompting a temporary closure of the reserve.
Four years later the deadly strain remains, with no clear path to eradication.
"These birds are being killed in their hundreds and thousands across the United Kingdom," Mr Steel said."The birds will just sit around and over the course of a few days pass away.
"It's very sad to see and it's difficult to work with because there is nothing we can do."
It's a scenario scientists say is about to become a reality for Australia.
Planning won't stop disease
Warned for years, planning and precautions won't be enough to stop this deadly disease.
H5N1 originated in China in 1996. It has since spread throughout the globe with major outbreaks in the United Kingdom since 2021 and ongoing cases in cattle in the United States.
Australia, New Zealand and parts of the Pacific are the only areas free from the strain, but it has just bean confirmed in seals on Heard Island, 4,000 kilometres south-west of Perth.
The Australian government has talked down suggestions that substantially increases the risk to the mainland, but not all scientists are so optimistic.
The government has announced more than $100 million in funding for H5N1 bird flu preparedness, surveillance and response.
A total of $15 million of funding has been allocated to enhancing the national biosecurity response, including building up critical supplies and equipment.
A further $10 million is for coordinated interstate communications, and $7 million for early detection and reporting.
Dr Fiona Fraser is Australia's Threatened Species Commissioner. She says once it reaches here, "we will not be able to prevent its spread".
"And we will not be able to eradicate it in nature.
"We are also moving to do work on the ground, dealing with other threats those populations already face, so they can have greater resilience when H5N1 bird flu arrives."
Species including the Christmas Island frigatebird are at a heightened risk.
Known for the striking bright red balloon-like throat pouch males use to attract females, it is the world's ninth most evolutionary distinct and endangered bird.
The stunning black, white and red bird is an endemic species, meaning they only breed and nest on Christmas Island.
This puts them at a particular threat if the disease lands on the island.
Official federal government advice lists Australian sea lions and Abbott's booby alongside the Christmas Island frigatebird.There is also significant concern about the impact of the strain on black swans and pelicans.
Shorebirds face new threat
While Australians can't see the puffins, kittiwakes and other exotic birds of the Isle of May off our coasts, less vibrantly coloured shorebirds are also in the firing line of H5N1.Queensland's Moreton Bay Marine Park, north-east of Brisbane, is a vital habitat for shorebirds, which are also known as waders, many of whom are endangered.
It plays host to 40,000 migratory shorebirds each summer and about 3,500 resident birds.
The park is frequently the first Australian port of call for the migratory birds.
Their annual journey south from the Arctic leaves the birds weak, with some losing up to 40 per cent of their body weight.
That physical exertion leaves intricately patterned and critically endangered species like the far eastern curlew and the bar-tailed godwit as weakened targets for H5N1.
Already facing countless obstacles to survival, if this strain does not kill these long-legged birds, it could have devastating long-term impacts.
For the curlew, the outlook is uniquely bleak, with populations declining by 80 per cent in the past 30 years.
University of Queensland Professor Richard Fuller said shorebirds are threatened differently to seabirds but population decline is inevitable.
"We're unlikely to see piles of dead shorebird species," he said after spotting a bar-tailed godwit on the mud flats out from Manly.
"If the bird flu doesn't kill them, it can create these sub-lethal effects. It reduces their ability to migrate.
"It just weakens them enough where they have to stop more on that journey, they can mistime that journey and fail to breed."
A glimmer of hope
Back in Scotland at the Firth of Forth, a team of dedicated researchers have made a breakthrough.
It offers a glimmer of hope for wildlife and for those dedicated to their survival.
The cheerful Atlantic puffin that has helped put the Isle of May on the map has developed antibodies to H5N1.Mr Steel said research into that discovery continued.
"If there's any hope for these seabirds, it really is about the fact some birds are starting to show immunity to this terrible virus," he said.
"We now know that Atlantic puffins are immune against it and antibodies are being found in their blood.
"Other birds are starting to build it up as well."
A small team of researchers from Edinburgh university resided on the May during the summer, studying the birds and trying to learn why some species are more affected by the disease than others.
Scientists globally are watching on for signs shorebirds too could develop antibodies.
While it may appear a speck in the ocean on the other side of the world, the Isle of May offers hope for other species on the frontline of the H5N1 spread.
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