Jimmy's Farm near Ipswich will reopen on Wednesday after being forced to temporarily close due to the discovery of a suspected bird flu case.

The wildlife park, in Wherstead, said on Tuesday morning the virus was believed to have been found among its exotic bird population.

However, the park later confirmed no bird flu was identified after inspections by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

Customers who were due to visit Jimmy's Farm on Tuesday will be contacted by a member of the customer services team.

Suffolk has seen a number of cases of bird flu in recent weeks, leading to thousands of birds being culled.

Most of the cases have been identified in west Suffolk, but there have been some outbreaks in the east of the county.

Ipswich Star:

Jimmy's Farm said in a statement: "We are delighted to announce that we do not have an outbreak of avian influenza. Our restrictions have been lifted and we are now able to reopen.

"We would like to thank our hardworking team and the swift actions taken by the Defra and APHA inspectors.

"We are currently one of the lucky ones but many farms and wildlife parks are facing unprecedented outbreaks. This is challenging the poultry industry in ways we’ve never experienced or seen before.

"We call on the government to take urgent action to change their approach to avian influenza and save people’s livelihoods.

"We will be open tomorrow, Wednesday, November 23, and look forward to welcoming you all back."

Jimmy's Farm is owned by TV presenter Jimmy Doherty and is home to more than 100 species of animal.

Its website says the attraction has a variety of “awesome feathered friends” on site, including rheas, emus, laughing kookaburras and Indian peafowl.

Last month, Suffolk's poultry population was put into a lockdown as farmers and captive bird keepers were ordered to keep their birds indoors.

The lockdown was later extended to the rest of England, with owners of poultry and other captive birds legally obliged to keep them indoors.

Several dead swans were discovered in the River Stour in Sudbury at the end of September, with Defra confirming bird flu testing was carried out on the animals.