Volunteers on the Beach to Help Rare Birds
15 May 2006
Volunteers and staff from the RSPB and English Nature will be busy on the beach this week as they prepare for the return of one of Britain’s rarest sea birds to its breeding colonies at Great Yarmouth and Winterton Dunes.
They will be hard at work on Tuesday 16 May, erecting a fence on North Denes beach in preparation for the imminent arrival of the little terns.
English Nature staff will also be putting up a fence to protect the birds at Winterton Dunes in the same week. It is hoped that the joint efforts of the RSPB, English Nature and Great Yarmouth Borough Council will help the legally protected sea birds to recover from the worrying declines of recent years.
Every May, around 200 pairs of little terns make the arduous journey from Africa to build their nests at Great Yarmouth’s North Denes beach and Winterton Dunes National Nature Reserve. North Denes hosts the largest breeding colony of little terns in Britain, with around 10% of the UK population choosing to nest at this site.
The RSPB is intensifying efforts to protect the vulnerable birds by extending the fence that protects the colony each summer, and improving signage and information for visitors. The protection scheme is run in partnership with English Nature and Great Yarmouth Borough Council, who have provided funding for the initiative. The project has also received funding this year from Great Yarmouth’s Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). This year Great Yarmouth Borough Council have given permission for the fence to be extended down to the average high tide line to ensure minimum disturbance to the colony.
Little terns build their nests on the open beach, where their wonderfully camouflaged eggs are vulnerable to accidental trampling. The fences are necessary not only to protect the eggs from trampling, but to minimise disturbance and predation.
The rare birds also receive round-the-clock protection from a team of RSPB and English Nature wardens and volunteers, who will take turns to patrol the colonies night and day to ward off foxes, hedgehogs, cats and other predators.
In recent years, the little terns have suffered a series of setbacks due to predation, vandalism, disturbance and problems with food supply – though numbers of birds are still expected to be high this year thanks to a very successful breeding season in 2003.
The encroachment of marram grass into their sand and shingle nest site is also squeezing the little terns into a smaller area each year. It is hoped that by extending the fence down to the sea the little terns will have more space in which to build their nests with minimum disturbance.
Local residents and tourists have delighted in the chatter and bustle of the little tern colony for the past 20 years. Local volunteers play an essential role in helping visitors to view the charming birds without disturbing and alarming them. To help protect the vulnerable birds, visitors are requested to report to the RSPB information cabin on North Denes beach where wardens and volunteers will be on hand to chat to visitors. There will also be a series of guided walks between May and July at both North Denes beach and Winterton Dunes. For information on viewing the birds or booking a guided walk, visitors should contact the RSPB on 01603 715191.
For further information please contact:
Kat Allen, Little Tern Protection Scheme Warden
Mobile: 07930 469990
Office: 01493 700645
Email:
kat.allen@rspb.org.uk
Jenny Toms, People Engagement Officer
Office: 01603 715191
Email:
Jennifer.toms@rspb.org.uk
For further information on little terns at Winterton Dunes please contact:
Rick Southwood
Office: 01603 720788
Mobile: 07899 901550
Email:
rick.southwood@englishnature.org.uk
English Nature Norwich
office: 01603 598400
Photocall: RSPB volunteers and staff will be on North Denes beach, Great Yarmouth (opposite the Iron Duke public house) from 10 am on Tuesday 16 May. Please contact Kat Allen to arrange for photograph opportunities. We suggest late morning is a good time.
Photographs:
Pictures of little terns are available from Pat Knibb, public affairs secretary on
01603 697520 or
pat.knibb@rspb.or.uk Additional notes:
1. Great Yarmouth North Denes was declared a Special Protection Area under the EU’s ‘wild birds directive’ in 1993. The SPA includes foreshore at the Winterton-Horsey Dunes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) as little terns nested here in the 1960s and 1970s. The tern colony is spread between both sites, depending on food supplies and condition of the beaches.
2. The RSPB has run a protection scheme at Great Yarmouth North Denes since 1986, with the permission of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, the landowner. English Nature has supported the project for most of that period.
3. Winterton Dunes National Nature Reserve (NNR) is managed by English Nature
4. Little terns are Britain’s second rarest tern, with 2,000 breeding pairs in the UK each year – the roseate tern is the rarest.