 Dalkey's Tern Watch (c) Andrew Butler One of the recent 'Rockablog' posts was written by Andrew Butler, who is the Dalkey Island warden.
Dalkey Island is located approximately 400m off Sorrento Point on the County Dublin mainland. To the north of Dalkey Island lie two small islands, one with some vegetation and one just bare rock; known as Lamb Island and Maiden Rock. The islands are home to three species of tern: Common, Arctic and Roseate. This site is one of the only three known sites in the Republic of Ireland where roseate terns have nested in recent years although their attempts here have been quite intermittent. However it is also an important roosting location for roseate terns before they migrate south for winter. As a result there is on-going conservation work that is trying to encourage roseate terns to use and colonize this site as nesting area. "This season for the first time since the late 1990’s we have 32 roseate tern nest boxes on Lamb and 7 on Maidens’, it is also the first time there has been an employed Warden for the islands since the late 1990’s. The new warden and nest boxes are in place thanks to the support of the Roseate Tern EU LIFE Programme, Dun Laoghaire & Rathdown County Council and of course BirdWatch Ireland who run the project." "As well as the nest boxes we have also placed some gravel in the depressions in the rock as nesting substrate, to make the site as attractive as possible to terns looking to breed, especially Roseate Terns." In addition the warden has also been holding a Dalkey Tern Watch every Tuesday evening at the pier at Collimore Harbour, pointing out the various breeding birds, raising the awareness about human disturbance and updating the public about the how the season is overall going! Click here for the Full Story about how they prepared the sites and the other public engaging activities they've done: http://rockabillterns.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/guest-blog-dalkey-terns.html
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Courtesy of the amazing LIVE cameras on Coquet Island, we are able to see some fascinating interactions between the nesting Roseate Terns! In case you missed it, here are some great moments that RSPB Coquet Island have placed on YouTube for you to watch.  Roseate Tern (c) BirdWatch Ireland (photo taken under NPWS license) Located 7km off the County Dublin coast, the island of Rockabill is an internationally important site for Roseate Terns since it supports over 80% of its north-west European population!! It also supports other important and stunning breeding seabirds including common tern, Arctic tern, kittiwake and black guillemot. The island is managed by BirdWatch Ireland and no landing is permitted in order to limit disturbance to these sensitive nesting birds. There is a small team of dedicated wardens who live on the island monitoring these seabirds for the entire breeding season. Recently they have just completed their full nest census which took two days to completed! This meant checking out all the nest boxes including nooks and crannies for nesting pairs and eggs. "Their hard work has paid off with a fantastic count total of 1,556 Roseate Tern nests on Rockabill which is increase of over 150 nests from last year. Such a big increase further cements Rockabill's status as the largest Roseate Tern colony in Europe and is down to a lot of hard work from all of the wardens and Birdwatch Ireland staff who have worked here over the years." "Around 700 of those 1556 nests are in nestboxes, again proving their value and importance to the species continued growth. We got around 100 new nestboxes this year thanks to funding from the EU LIFE project, and will hopefully continue to add more and more in the coming years." All this information is from their regularly updated 'Rockablog' which will enthrall you with the tales of these stunning birds - check it out! http://rockabillterns.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/rockabill-roseate-tern-count-2016.html  Rockabill Island (c) Zeezeilschool Scheveningen |
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Roseate Tern LIFE Project is supported by the LIFE Programme of the European Union
LIFE14 NAT/UK/000394 ROSEATE TERN
LIFE14 NAT/UK/000394 ROSEATE TERN