Like many migrating birds, roseate terns know no boundaries. This is what makes it is so important that the Roseate Tern LIFE project is a partnership covering multiple sites in different countries united in the aim to protect and expand the roseate tern breeding range in Britain and Ireland. Last week was a great example of international working with Daniel Piec and Chantal Macleod-Nolan, who are overseeing and coordinating the LIFE project on behalf of the RSPB, crossing the Irish Sea and visiting the project sites. Our first stop was Larne Lough in Northern Ireland where we were welcomed and met the warden and RSPB staff who are monitoring the area. Our resulting discussion was very insightful and along with actually seeing the site gave us with a much clearer understanding of how the site works and the breeding terns are doing this year. Throughout the visit we had some lovely sightings of fledgling Sandwich terns, common terns, black-headed gulls and black guillemots. Unfortunately with only one pair breeding at Larne Lough last year, roseate terns in Northern Ireland are facing extinction - making the support and funding the recovery project provides very important! It was a misty start, but the weather improved and the next place to visit was Lady's Island Lake in the Republic of Ireland. It supports the second largest breeding colony of roseate terns in Ireland along with many other nesting birds including good numbers of Sandwich terns and common terns, which were busy returning with sand eels in their bill for their young. The site is managed by National Parks and Wildlife Services and it was great to hear that they have 202 pairs of roseate terns nesting there this year! On our travels heading north we passed and dropped in to visit Kilcoole Little Tern Colony. Last year they had 155 nests, but how had they fared this year? Had they been affected by any factors that affect roseate terns as well? This year they had hatched 85 nests with 154 chicks, however the wardens have observed fox predation and poor food availability. The season is not over yet though and the site is currently still active (good numbers of little terns were flying about when we were there!). If you are interested in reading more about it, check out their blog: http://littleternconservation.blogspot.co.uk/ Dalkey Island was next and as we mentioned in a previous blog it is an important area for roosting roseate terns with intermittent breeding attempts. We were eager to meet with the new Dalkey warden (BirdWatch Ireland) and discuss how the nesting Arctic and common terns were faring this year and if any passing roseate terns had shown an interest in the newly placed nest boxes. Understanding the pressures these nesting terns are facing is important and if they are doing well, it may attract roseate terns who have a preference for nesting among other tern species. It was also nice to hear about how Tuesday's Dalkey Tern Watch have been going - great 'tern' out if you can pardon the pun! Last but definitely not least was Rockabill Island, home to the largest roseate tern colony in North West Europe. This year they have 1556 roseate tern nests! We were joined on this trip by wardens and staff from a number of Tern colonies in Northern Ireland and Wales (RSPB & NWWT) and were shown around by Rockabill warden Brian Burke (BirdWatch Ireland): http://rockabillterns.blogspot.co.uk/. In addition earlier in the week Rockabill Island also hosted the RSPB wardens from Coquet Island, England as well. With added funding from the project, the wardens were able to start slightly earlier and prepare for the season controlling the vegetation and providing terns with more nesting opportunities! Currently the wardens are busy monitoring the nesting terns, observing predation and undertaking provisioning studies. I would like to thank all the wardens and staff who took the time to show us around their sites. Not only was it a fantastic opportunity to observe breeding roseate terns and their interactions, but all of these site visits and informal discussions are incredibly important with each site having their own intricacies and management approaches regarding their different breeding species, disturbance and predators. Exchanging knowledge and experiences potentially offer new solutions and allow us to return to our own sites/offices with renewed eagerness to continue protecting these rare birds!!!
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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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