After last year’s disastrous results Trevor Stephenson, the INCA Little Tern Voluntary Warden, said that he was not looking forward to the 2011 nesting season.  2010 saw a record number of little terns nest on their traditional site at Crimdon Denemouth only to have nearly all their chicks taken and eaten by a pair of kestrel. “I could not have faced that again, it was enough to make a man weep to see these little birds, having flown all the way from Africa only to have all their chicks predated” said Trevor.

The winter had prepared the site well with lots of rocks and debris amongst which the birds nest in order to hide their eggs and chicks. At the beginning of May an unprecedented number of volunteers turned out to put up the fence on the beach to protect the terns and their young from trampling and being taken by dogs. The female kestrel which did all the damage last year did not appear and by mid June we had over 80 little terns sitting on eggs.  We waited with trepidation but by July we had a record number of chicks running around on the beach and beginning to fledge into adults.  It turned out to be a record year with 84 pairs of birds nesting to raise 147 young.

(image by Ray Scott)