Wild ducks could spark bird flu in Britain by passing the virus on to domestic birds, an expert has said.
Dr Rob McCracken from the British Veterinary Association told the Today programme that ducks were the birds most likely to pass the virus on to domestic poultry before it could be detected as they show no symptoms of the disease.
He said that free-range poultry in Britain presented a "considerable risk" since they could easily come into contact with wild ducks who have migrated through Croatia, Romania and Turkey.
In Turkey 15 cases of bird flu have been confirmed so far and three children have died from the disease.
The lethal H5N1 strain of the virus has been found in birds in 19 of Turkey's 81 provinces.
Dr McCracken said that although the chances of Britain's poultry being infected were slim, the government was right to say birds may eventually have to be kept indoors.
He also said that migratory ducks were most likely to land on waterways and advised that domestic birds be kept away from such areas where there was a high risk of contact with wild birds.
He said: "I believe that by and large we have every expectation that there'll be very little possibility of the virus getting to our domestic poultry.
"The government I think are quite right in this in saying that when the time comes birds will be moved indoors and the reason why we don't do it sooner is that there are a number of farms, quite a significant number of free range farms do not have facilities to contain the birds 24 hours per day, every day."
He stressed that immediate action did not need to be taken but that when threat was from the virus was imminent, birds would have to be moved inside.
"Let's remember that this is not a virus that's going to spread from farm to farm in the way, in the manner, that foot and mouth disease did," he said.