The specialist tern terraces at the Beacon
Prime real estate for terns

Monday 26th July comments: So we've come close to having a breeding pair of Roseate Terns (see yesterday's blog) and we attracted an individual which successfully raised a chick with a Common Tern in 2019 but how do we do it? Is it complete fluke that we have these birds arriving and sticking around? Well you'll probably not be too surprised to hear that it is not, it's down to some hard work…  

As we know in conservation, birds can respond to positive active management and seabirds are no different. We can protect the island, control visitor numbers and ensure disturbance is kept to a minimum but we can also create habitat that is suitable for a species.

In this case we have been building specialist 'tern terraces' on the island over the last six years, as we have been transforming areas of nettle and rank vegetation into nesting habitat. The idea is simplistic enough as we have large beds of gravel and sand complete with specialist Tern boxes. Throw in lots of hard work from lots of people especially our long-term volunteers over the years and we have ourselves some luxury specialist tern nesting habitat (prime real estate!)

The success is in the end result and since the creation of these terraces we've welcomed back more Arctic Terns, an increasing number of Common Terns, Sandwich terns have nested in four of the last six years and now we have Roseate terns interested. As with anything, it has had its up and downs, as some of the ideas we've tried have not worked, but it's the trying which counts; trying to make a difference to seabirds which are already facing an uncertain future with bigger wider issues such as climate change. We'll continue to do our bit and try hard to make a difference and sometimes, it pays off.