"The most important thing the public can do is keep their eyes peeled," he told the BBC.
"You know, people who go to the country—particularly people who go to the shores of lochs and lakes and rivers and so on where aquatic birds live, because this is a virus of aquatic birds," he said.
Like most experts, virologist Todd Hatchette, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, expects the virus to continue its global spread.
"There has been ongoing debate over how much of [H5N1's] spread has been due to entrenchment in wild birds and how much has been due to illegal movement of poultry," he said.
He added that the swan find suggests the bird-flu threat may become more pronounced as birds follow their migratory pathways.
(Read "Bird Flu Will Reach U.S. and Canada This Fall, Experts Predict.")
"I think the fact that it's showing up in swans is further evidence that the wild bird population is going to be problematic," he said.
Industry Nervous
There is no evidence to suggest that humans can acquire the virus from eating properly cooked poultry products.
But bird flu's arrival in the U.K. has some worried about consumer confidence.
Britain's National Farmers' Union (NFU) reported that Scotland's poultry industry earns over 115 million British pounds (202 million U.S. dollars) a year.
"If people panic, they are putting livelihoods at risk," NFU's James Withers told the Associated Press.
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