A wildlife hospital in south Essex has told BBC Essex it is putting down birds "on a daily basis" after bird flu outbreaks in the county.

South Essex Wildlife Hospital says its putting down birds with suspected cases of bird flu daily.

It comes after Avian Influenza, which is also known as bird flu, has been detected across Essex in recent months.

In early September, a case was confirmed just outside Tolleshunt Major, Maldon, which was the third outbreak in Essex in the last year.

A couple of weeks later, an emergency control zone was put in place after the Government confirmed cases of bird flu near Clacton.

Sue Schwar, who runs the Orsett-based wildlife hospital, told BBC Essex: "Unfortunately it's actually been going on in a lot of places over the last year, there's been many deaths down in Hullbridge in Rochford for example.

"It's very, very difficult to tell exactly whether the bird has got flu or not but certainly if it is symptomatic as a precaution they have to be euthanised whether they've got flu or not, once you've had an outbreak it's game over and there's been lots of centres closed down because of that."

A farm and produce shop in north Essex has also said it is having to cull all birds on site after some caught bird flu.

Blackwells Farm Produce & Farm Shop in Coggeshall announced the sad news in a statement today.

A warning was also issued after the virus was discovered at a property in Stoke-by-Nayland, near Colchester.

No cases have been confirmed in humans.