Bird flu in GB: AIPZ housing rules and risk, Nov 2025
Let’s get you oriented. As of Saturday 8 November 2025, Defra has confirmed a new H5N1 bird flu case in commercial poultry near Hallow in Worcestershire, with a 3km protection zone and 10km surveillance zone now in force and culling underway on the affected premises. Great Britain remains in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone, and England is operating under a live housing order.
Quick explainer you can teach from: HPAI means “highly pathogenic avian influenza”, a category that causes serious disease in birds and spreads quickly; LPAI is milder. The current UK strain is H5N1. Risk to the public is assessed by UKHSA as very low, and the Food Standards Agency says properly cooked poultry and eggs are safe to eat. The current risk in wild birds is very high; for kept birds it is high where biosecurity is weak and low where strong biosecurity is maintained.
How do control zones work in plain English? A protection zone is drawn within 3km of an infected site to stop movement, increase cleaning and require strict records. A wider 10km surveillance zone adds monitoring and limits movement so officials can find and break any chains of transmission. Where disease is confirmed, the flock on site is humanely culled to protect other birds locally and nationally, with movement only by licence.
Here’s the picture this week. New confirmations were posted on 3–7 November in several parts of England including Norfolk, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Devon and East Sussex, with additional detections in Lancashire and in Wales near Milford Haven. On 8 November, the Worcestershire case was added. Northern Ireland confirmed infections near Pomeroy in County Tyrone and Lisnaskea in County Fermanagh, replacing temporary control zones with full protection and surveillance zones.
Numbers to date help you compare seasons. For the 2025–26 season so far, officials list 28 cases in England, 4 in Wales and 3 in Northern Ireland, with 0 in Scotland-35 in total as of 8 November. For context, the UK recorded 81 HPAI cases in 2024–25 and 207 in 2022–23. Under World Organisation for Animal Health rules, the UK is not currently “free” from HPAI.
What the housing order means for you in England. If you keep more than 50 birds, you must house them. If you keep fewer than 50 but sell or give away eggs, birds or poultry products, you must also house them. If you keep fewer than 50 birds for your own use only, you do not have to house them, but you still need robust daily biosecurity. These rules sit alongside the GB‑wide AIPZ, which requires enhanced hygiene for everyone who keeps birds.
Reading the map with care matters. Wales has a live 3km protection and 10km surveillance zone centred near Milford Haven after confirmation in a large commercial flock on 6 November. Scotland has no confirmed kept‑bird cases this season at the time of writing, but the AIPZ still applies. Northern Ireland runs its own controls under DAERA, with protection and surveillance zones now live at Pomeroy and Lisnaskea.
If you organise shows, markets or school events with birds, plan cautiously. Outside disease control zones in England, licensed gatherings of some captive birds can proceed under strict conditions, but most poultry gatherings are not allowed where housing is required. Always check the Defra disease zone map and the latest declaration before setting dates or inviting exhibitors.
On vaccination, the rule in England is straightforward: you cannot vaccinate poultry or most captive birds. Zoo collections may apply to APHA for authorisation under strict criteria, and Defra and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate continue to monitor vaccine development for birds. If you hear claims about routine flock vaccination, treat them as incorrect for now.
Wild birds and gardens are part of the learning too. You can feed garden birds, but keep feeders and water baths clean, wash hands after use and avoid areas close to kept birds. Within an AIPZ you cannot feed wild gamebirds within 500 metres of premises with more than 500 kept birds. Do not touch dead or sick birds-report them via GOV.UK-and use NHS hygiene advice if you’ve had contact with droppings or feathers.
About mammals and people: avian influenza viruses can infect some mammals, and “influenza of avian origin in mammals” is a notifiable disease in the UK, so vets and labs must report suspicions or detections. For people who have been exposed to infected birds or contaminated environments, UKHSA sets out follow‑up and testing protocols; for the general public the health risk remains very low.
What this means for your class, club or training session. Try a mapping exercise using a school or community centre as the “index site” and ask learners to draw 3km and 10km radii to see which roads and farms fall inside. Compare HPAI and LPAI in one paragraph, then summarise today’s official risk levels in clear sentences. Most of all, build the habit of checking dates and citing sources whenever you explain what’s going on.