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Right now the UK is in the middle of its largest ever outbreak of bird flu.

3.1 million birds have been curled so far, but much of the devastation has happened away from farms.

The current strain of H5N1 avian influenza has devastated wild bird populations, killing thousands and affecting threatened species

like puffins and hen harriers.

And in England since the 7th of November, chickens, ducks and all other captive birds have had to be kept indoors to prevent them catching the virus.

It's the equivalent of lockdown for anything with feathers.

Bird flu is also partly to blame for the egg shortages you might have noticed in the supermarkets.

Four supermarkets are now rationing how many eggs you can buy, others have turned to imports to meet demand.

So how are both wild and captive birds coping with the current strain of avian flu?

And is the UK prepared to deal with another major animal disease outbreak

should one come along? From the Guardian I'm Ian sample and this is science weekly.

Phoebe Western, you're a biodiversity writer for the guardian. We spoke to you in July about the devastation this current strain of bird flu is having on the wild

population here in the UK. The situation was pretty dire over the summer.

How are wild birds coping with bird flu at the moment?

So when we last spoke it was mainly seabird populations

that were getting badly hit because they were in their maternity colonies

...