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.

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 

Coquet Island, about a mile off the Northumberland coast, is home to internationally important seabird species, including the UKs rarest nesting seabird – the Roseate Tern!

Although Coquet is the only UK colony of roseate terns, The LIFE project aims to reverse this and is supporting many historic and possible new colonies around the UK. It is hoped that this extra support will lead to the re-colonisation of this enigmatic tern. 

There is no public landings are permitted on the island; protecting its fragile habitats and special seabirds. However, as of 21st May 2016, the island is linked to the mainland through live camera feeds.

In the last month these cameras have revealed some amazing secrets from within the colony so far – with courtship displays, scraps, dancing and more. 

In 2014, Coquet Island had 93 nesting pairs, however last year in 2015 they had a spectacular 111 breeding Roseate tern pairs.

Fingers crossed that the Rosys’ fortunes continue to improve in 2016 – check out how they are getting on at www.rspb.org.uk/coquetlive.

Alternatively you can find the link on our website COQUET LIVE page.

Information provided Coquet Warden: Wesley Davies