Little Tern eggs stolen from Norfolk beach

23/06/2019

The RSPB is assisting Norfolk Constabulary in an appeal for information into the theft of seven clutches of Little Tern eggs from a colony near Winterton, Norfolk.

EU Life+ Little Tern Recovery Project volunteers and staff work shifts to monitor the terns throughout daylight hours, when the birds are most vulnerable to disturbance. However, in the early hours of the morning of Thursday 20 June, RSPB Little Tern wardens discovered that up to 20 eggs had been illegally stolen from seven nests. Human footprints were identified leading up to each nest.

Little Tern is one of the UK's rarest breeding seabirds, having suffered serious declines over the past 25 years. In the 1980s there were 2,500 breeding pairs but this fell to fewer than 2,000 pairs in 2000, and it is now estimated that there are currently a maximum of 1,500 pairs.

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Rare seabird colony on Chesil Beach growing after years of decline

13th June

By James Moules @DorsetEchoJames

Things are getting better for a colony of rare seabirds.

The colony of little terns at Chesil Beach has seen growing numbers recently.

After years of decline through the 1990s and 2000s - with no breeding pairs at all in 2009 - a recovery project has successfully helped the colony grow in size again.

Ben Harrington, Project Officer for the Little Tern colony, said: "The colony is doing great, the number of nests has been rising rapidly and is very likely to keep on going. We had our first two chicks hatch, with plenty more to hatch in the next few days.

"In recent years the population at the colony has been fairly steady, at about 38 pairs, but hopefully this year we will have even more.

"The colony has successfully fledged plenty of chicks over the last few seasons and they should hopefully be returning soon."

The little tern colony at Chesil Beach is the only one of its kind in the south west.

As a result of the efforts of the project, there are now 36 nests, 22 of which have 3 eggs.

Read on

A record year for Denbighshire's terns ... but will the picture be so rosy after Brexit?

Bird Notes columnist Julian Hughes of RSPB Cymru reveals what birds have been spotted in the past week and lists some upcoming birding events

By

Andrew Forgrave Rural Affairs Editor

23:40, 17 SEP 2018

Supporters of Wales’ only nesting colony of Little Terns are celebrating another successful breeding season under the watch of wardens from Denbighshire County Council .

Despite 89 nests being lost to Storm Hector’s metre-high tidal surge in June, a record 171 pairs reared 192 young on the beach at Gronant .

Wardens saved 27 nests from the waves by moving nests up the beach, and numbers were boosted by influx of birds whose nests failed in Ireland, Cumbria and the Isle of Man.

Every year since 2014 each pair has fledged a chick, enough to grow the population, making Gronant the second biggest Little Tern colony in Britain & Ireland.

Wardens have witnessed some chicks refusing food, an indication of good supplies of small fish offshore.

Read on  

Fond farewell as little tern chicks set off on African migration

Anthony Carroll

PUBLISHED: 15:40 09 July 2018 | UPDATED: 16:17 09 July 2018

It is a 3,100 mile annual migration that sees one of the rarest seabirds in the land leave their nests in the Great Yarmouth area and head to Africa.

As these pictures show, little tern chicks are starting to leave their nests and make their way to their West African wintering grounds.

The chicks can be found at the dunes at Winterton and several other beaches in the area and they make up about 20pc of the country’s population of the bird.

Lyn Ibbitson-Elk, a RSPB little tern volunteer who caught some of the birds on camera along with fellow volunteer Kevin Simmonds, said: “I have had the privilege to volunteer on the RSPB Little Tern Project for several years and it is a very special experience.

“These precious little seabirds honour us in Norfolk with their presence for only a few months every year, having flown an astonishing 5,000km.

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Red Arrows alter flight path for rare bird colonies

23 May 2018

The RAF Red Arrows are being forced to change their flight path at an air show because of nesting birds.

Great Yarmouth Air Show is in talks with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) over a new route to avoid disturbing little tern colonies at Scroby Sands and the beach at North Denes.

The RSPB wants the show to be postponed until September when nesting is over.

An organiser said it was "frustrating" having to make the adjustments with just three weeks to go.

The bird charity said it had raised concerns with Great Yarmouth Borough Council and the CAA in October 2016 about the air show being held at this time of year.

It said aircraft passing close to and over Scroby Sands, "will cause the adult birds to fly up from the nests" and may cause some to abandon their nests and chicks.

According to the RSPB, little terns are in decline across Europe and are among the UK's rarest sea birds.

Natural England manages Scroby Sands, a legally protected site of global importance for wildlife, and little terns are a protected species.

"We are also concerned that Natural England will allow Great Yarmouth Air Show to proceed despite these legal protections," the RSPB said.

Show director Kevin Marsh said they had already made two adjustments to the Red Arrows' flight path to give the colonies a wider berth.

He said the new flight path proposal was for the RAF display team only as it requires a longer fly-past to be able to do their turns and would not affect other aircraft.

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Booming population of migrating birds on Northumberland coast

Published: 07:00 Friday 08 September 2017

A tiny bird is booming in population thanks to conservation efforts on a stretch of the north Northumberland coast recently bought by the National Trust. More than 500 Arctic terns and five internationally-threatened little terns have fledged thanks to rangers camping out on 24-hour watch against predators, such as stoats and foxes. In the previous year, just two Arctic terns and five little terns, vulnerable to high tides and marine pollution, managed to take flight. The National Trust has been carrying out the extensive conservation efforts for decades to keep the birds going on the north Northumberland coast, but this summer, the charity acquired 200 acres of land at Tughall Mill for £1.5million to ensure its vital conservation work can continue. Only around 1,800 breeding pairs of Arctic terns return to the Long Nanny from Antarctica each year, between May and July. The Arctic tern hit headlines last year after one from the Farne Islands clocked up 59,650 miles in one migration, more than twice the circumference of the planet.

Read more at: 

Largest breeding colony of rare sea bird calls Norfolk its home

14 July 2016 at 7:30am

Norfolk has become home to the UK's largest breeding colony of a rare sea bird.

Little terns travel from West Africa to breed on our coasts each summer.

Monitoring has discovered 169 nests on an area of beach near Sea Palling in east Norfolk.

The RSPB said chicks would be starting to find their feet and urged visitors to the area to be careful.

Source… 

Help rare seabird numbers take off on Chesil Beach

1 day ago / Martin Lea /  @DorsetEchoMart

A NEW chapter is beginning in a conservation success story on Chesil Beach.

And people are being sought to ensure the colony of little terns, one of the smallest and rarest seabirds, thrive.

Numbers of little terns breeding on Chesil Beach dipped to only ten pairs in 2008, but hard work by several organisations involved in the Little Tern Recovery Project has seen that number treble in the seven years since.

The RSPB says volunteers have a vital role to play again this year to try to make sure the conservation success story continues. Chesil is the only little tern colony in South West England, and as recently as the 1990s as many as 100 pairs regularly bred there.

RSPB project officer Ali Quinney said: “The last two years have been incredibly successful with 33 pairs nesting both summers, the highest number since the project started.

“As the numbers increase the colony will hopefully recover enough to be able to sustain its population without the need for so much intervention and protection.

“But the project’s success relies on the dedication and hard work of volunteers to help look after the colony, and we are looking for anyone who can spare some time to help make a real difference to the conservation of these brilliant birds.”

One of the smallest of seabirds, the little tern, which arrives from Africa in the spring, has been in decline because of predation, food shortages and extreme weather conditions. It is on the UK’s amber list of birds of conservation concern – the second highest level.

They nest on Chesil’s shingle, where they are preyed upon by foxes and other birds, and their nests are sometimes disturbed by passers-by and pets. The nesting area is fenced-off each summer, and volunteers work hard to reduce the impact of other threats.

Marc Smith, of Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: “The little terns are such an important part of the wildlife on the Chesil Bank and the Fleet Nature Reserve, which is why so many partners are working together to protect them.

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Rare little terns site at Gronant sees 77 chicks fledge

5 September 2014 Last updated at 11:36

A rare seabird colony on a north Wales beach has seen its highest number of chicks for four years.

The sand and shingle dunes at the Gronant on the Dee Estuary host Wales' only breeding colony of little terns.

The site, near Prestatyn, produced 77 fledglings from 128 pairs this year, the most since 2010.

Denbighshire council said increased volunteer warden patrols had helped keep down human disturbance and predators such as foxes and kestrels.

The birds, which feed on sand eels, make the 4,000-mile (6,500 km) trip from west Africa in order to nest on the shingle ridge, amongst the sand dunes in Gronant.

A five-year EU partnership aims to make sure the bird has a long-term recovery in Wales.

Two years ago Denbighshire council put up a one-and-a-half mile (2.5 km) fence which is electrified at night to protect the birds from foxes.

In addition to natural predators, the birds also face loss of habitat through development as well as winter storms.

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Chesil Beach little terns' 'most successful year'

Breeding seabirds at a Dorset beach have had their "most successful year since records began", the RSPB has said.

Chesil Beach had a colony of 33 pairs of little terns this year, with 60 chicks making it to fledging.

The colony is watched round the clock by volunteers who have improved breeding conditions for the birds.

According to the RSPB it is the only colony of little terns in the south west of England.

The charity said the rise in numbers was down to work carried out by its warden-led team which monitors the birds.

An electric fence has been erected at the beach to minimise predation and human disturbance.

The scheme to protect the birds began in 2009.

The project is supported by Chesil and Fleet Nature Reserve, the Crown Estate, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Natural England, EU PANACHE Interreg Project and the Portland Court Leet.

There are about 1,900 pairs of little terns in Britain.

Source

Work starts to protect rare little terns at Gronant

Work is under way to protect one of the UK's rarest seabirds.

Little terns breed on a shingle beach in north Wales, they return each April from Africa to nest at the Gronant dunes on the Dee estuary but there is a warning the birds are threatened by climate change.

A five-year EU partnership aims to make sure the bird has a long-term recovery in Wales.

Beach visitors, in particular, are being urged to give the birds space.

The RSPB says other UK little tern colonies - on the Tees and in Lincolnshire - have already been lost because of changes to the UK coastline, and predictions of increased coastal flooding and sea level rises could spell further disaster for these elegant tiny seabirds.

Colin Wells, site manager for the RSPB on the Dee Estuary Reserve has helped erect and maintain a predator exclusion fence, and monitor breeding numbers at Gronant.

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Great Knots sighted at Pallikaranai marsh

Siberian migrant birds have only sporadically visited India; last sighting in city was during 1950-60

Naturalists and bird watchers celebrated this Pongal with more than usual joy, thanks to the sighting of Great Knots, Little Terns and a solitary Lesser Crested Tern at the Pallikaranai marshland.

R.J. Ranjit Daniels of Care Earth Trust, a Chennai-based biodiversity research organisation, who recorded the presence of these rare birds, said the Great Knot is a migrant bird that breeds in north-eastern Siberia.

It migrates eastwards in winter through southeast Asia, before finally getting to Australia, he said,

There are sporadic records of the species being spotted in India, while for Chennai, there is an old record in Salim Ali’s Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, which was probably made between 1950 and 1960, judging by the date of its publication, Dr. Daniels said.

Read on

Fragile colony of rare birds could become extinct after eggs stolen from Crimdon beach

CONSERVATION chiefs fear a fragile colony of rare birds could become extinct after thieves stole 50 eggs.

The little terns which fly from Africa to Crimdon have survived the elements and are vulnerable to natural predators like sparrow hawks and kestrels, but Durham Heritage Coast chiefs have branded the “human predator” who has stolen the eggs as “morally repugnant” and “criminal”.

The theft was discovered yesterday morning by warden Trevor Stephenson.

Durham Heritage Coast officer Niall Benson said: “Last year the colony raised no chicks and this year has seen far fewer birds nesting. This loss is another hard hit and likely to lead to the extinction of the colony at Crimdon. What makes it worse is that these eggs are two thirds through incubation with well-formed chicks inside.

Anyone with information about the theft should contact Peterlee Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/crime/fragile-colony-of-rare-birds-could-become-extinct-after-eggs-stolen-from-crimdon-beach-1-5782004