South Coast shorebird hatching boom despite bushfires

FEBRUARY 19, 2020 8:18 AM AEDT

Critically endangered Little Terns, Hooded Plovers and Pied Oystercatchers have fledged chicks at nesting sites along the NSW South Coast despite bushfires and beach visitors.

Environment Minister Matt Kean was pleased the little nesting shorebirds are doing well despite many challenges this summer including the Currowan fire.

“It’s really encouraging to see great conservation outcomes for these rare birds,” Mr Kean said.

“It’s great to have positive news about these birds which are migratory and listed as endangered or vulnerable species at risk of predation, storms and other threats.”

“These precious birds made it through last week’s king tide which nearly washed the eggs away before they hatched. Thankfully, NSW Government’s Saving our Species (SoS) program experts and local volunteers snatched them to safety from the advancing tide, moving the nests to the top of a sand mound.”

Volunteers kept watch to ensure the chicks were safe as the youngsters are still feeding with their parents at the site. Other breeding successes include:

35 little terns at Mogareeka, near Tathra

10 little terns and three pied oyster catchers at Tuross estuary, despite fox attacks and high tides

5 pied oyster catcher fledglings near Durras Lake entrance.

Shorebird Recovery Coordinator Sophie Hall-Aspland said these results show the shorebirds’ resilience, with the help of the determined efforts of the SoS’s South Coast Shorebird Recovery Program, which is a collaboration between SoS, NPWS, local community groups and over 100 volunteers.

The shorebird nesting season occurs from August to January/February, with peak laying from late November to mid-December. While pied oystercatchers are residents on many Aussie beaches, little terns undertake an arduous migration from as far away as Korea and Vietnam.

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New rafts for Sussex terns

13/08/2018

New tern rafts recently installed at Chichester Harbour, West Sussex, will help support three breeding species.

Chichester Harbour Conservancy has fitted the new tern rafts in Thorney Deep in order to assist with the nesting success of the local tern populations. Three species – Common, Little and Sandwich – breed in the harbour, and while the site has historically been productive for nesting terns, numbers have declined in recent years. Tidal flooding, human disturbance and predators such as foxes are listed as some of the threats the birds face, and emphasise the need for the rafts.

As many as 100 pairs of Common Terns nest in the harbour, with around 80 pairs of Sandwich Terns, while just a handful of Little Terns continue to breed following a recent drop in the number of nesting pairs across the site. The last species has experienced particularly poor breeding success in the harbour in recent years, though both Common and Sandwich have also struggled.

Thorney Deeps is a large, semi-tidal lagoon separating Thorney Island from the mainland. The safety of the lagoon makes it an ideal breeding location for terns, and the rafts have been placed on relatively sheltered waters, allowing the birds easy access to feeding sites around both Langstone and Chichester Harbours.

The rafts, which were funded by Sussex Ornithological Society, are anticipated to have a positive effect on the terns' breeding success, with Chichester Harbour Conservancy Ecologist Peter Hughes commenting: "We hope that the terns will nest successfully on rafts in Chichester Harbour in the coming years, giving a major boost to the population in this special area. The rafts should also offer an excellent opportunity for the local community to see these fabulous birds up close."

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Oldest recorded Little Tern

On Monday the first chicks fledged at the only Little Tern colony in Wales, from the few nests that survived Storm Hector in mid June.

Prof David Norman, who has ringed the chicks at Gronant beach for decades, as a member of Merseyside Ringing Group, recently caught a bird he first ringed there in July 1993.

At almost 25 years of age, this appears to be the oldest Little Tern ringed anywhere in the world, and it’s still producing chicks!

Volunteers at Gronant have installed live-streaming cameras from a couple of nests. With Denbighshire Council wardens they are also starting a programme of diversionary feeding to provide a local pair of Kestrels with an alternative food source to fledging terns.

The first signs of autumn wader migration came with Spotted Redshanks at RSPB Conwy and at Connah’s Quay , where up to three Great White Egrets have been feeding.

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Appeal for volunteers to help rare coastal seabird

The RSPB's appealing for volunteers in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex to help one of the UK's rarest seabirds, the Little Tern.

Their numbers have seriously declined in recent years as they struggle to find safe beaches to nest and feed their young.

Over a third of the UK breeding population make a home in East Anglia.

“Norfolk beaches are fantastic places to see little terns. Over a third of the UK breeding population make a home in East Anglia, and some of the largest colonies in the UK can be found here in Norfolk. However, our beaches are busy places and the little terns rely on our help to ensure chicks thrive and are able to successfully follow their parents back to Africa in August."

– PHIL PEARSON, SENIOR CONSERVATION OFFICER

The RSPB says that the birds are often disturbed when nesting by people as well as being vulnerable to predators such as crows or foxes. Severe weather events have also affected numbers in recent years.

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Rare seabirds make a welcome return to Flintshire nature reserve

Published date: 12 September 2015 | 

Published by: Staff reporter

ONE of Britain’s most threatened seabirds has successfully nested at an RSPB nature reserve in Flintshire.

The little tern is nesting at the nature reserve at Point of Ayr on the Dee Estuary for the first time since the 1960s.

Staff and volunteers were delighted to discover one pair successfully nested on the reserve, while 136 pairs also nested this year at a nearby large colony at Gronant.

A five year pot of funding from the EU was awarded in 2013 in an attempt to reverse the fortunes of the declining colonies of the birds in England and Wales.

Geoff Robinson, assistant warden for the RSPB Dee Estuary nature reserve, said: “We were doing our routine checks on the reserve one day in mid-May and noticed a lot of little tern activity above and around the shingle ridge at Point of Ayr.

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Little Tern's air miles equal two and a half times round the world

Wildlife conservationists studying rare Little Terns nesting on Chesil Beach in Dorset have discovered that two of them have notched up more than 60,000 miles each during their annual African migrations.

Given that the circumference of the earth is 24,860 miles, that means these small birds have travelled the equivalent of two and a half times round the world. 

The discovery was made during the fitting of new colour rings to the Chesil Little Terns in conjunction with the EU LIFE Little Tern Project.

Thalassa McMurdo Hamilton, Little Tern Project Officer says; “Steve Hales, a local bird ringer, carried out the colour ringing with Luke Phillips of the RSPB.

"As the ringing got underway we noticed some of the adults were glinting silver on their legs – they already had a metal ring on – and luckily, we managed to catch a few of these.

"We excitedly wrote down the ring number and Steve went home to check the BTO [British Trust for Ornithology] records to see how old they were.

Read on ...

Hope for little terns' revival at Langstone Harbour

Conservationists working to return one of the country's rarest seabirds to a Hampshire beach, say they have seen the first signs of a revival.

No little tern chicks have been raised at Langstone Harbour since 2011, when nests were swept away in storms.

The RSPB said there were now about 30 nests, although the chicks were still vulnerable to predators.

About 500 tonnes of aggregate were added to South Binness Island in 2013 to protect nesting areas.

It was hoped that raising the height of the beach would help prevent nests from being washed out by higher tides.

Wez Smith, RSPB Langstone Harbour site manager, said lower fish stocks in the harbour also meant the parent birds "will have to work very hard to find enough food".

"Hopefully they'll be able to raise their families within sight of Portsmouth's skyline again.

"The Solent's little terns have been in a worrying decline for some time now and these new broods of young represent real hope for the future," he added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-27907276

Brighter future for rare terns of Langstone Harbour

MORE than 500 tonnes of aggregate has been delivered by boat to replenish a vulnerable beach that is home to a rare bird. 

The shingle has been deposited on South Binness Island in Langstone Harbour. 

The small island is a refuge for the Little Tern. 

In recent years eggs or chicks have been washed away by the tide, but it is hoped the raised beach will allow bird colonies to flourish. 

Replenishing the beach marks the first phase of a three-year project by the RSPB, which was awarded £74,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

Wez Smith, RSPB Langstone Harbour site manager, said: ‘Sea level rise will be a real problem for little terns in years to come and protecting the significant Langstone Harbour population will make a massive contribution to sustaining their nationally declining population.’ 

The aggregate was provided by Lafarge Tarmac. 

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/brighter-future-for-rare-terns-of-langstone-harbour-1-5076890