Surprised by the biodiversity of our Seas in Wild Isles recently? While we are lucky to have incredible sealife living around our coastlines, all is not well with the state of our oceans. Today, around a third of UK fish stocks are overfished. That reduces the amount of food around for many species, including some of our most threatened seabirds: Puffins, Kittiwakes and terns. Every spring, these birds return to our cliffs and shores to breed. Here, many raise their chicks on oily fish called Sandeels. But this food source is on a knife edge because of climate change, and overfishing making things worse.
Fewer Sandeels in UK waters means that our coasts are falling silent, no longer noisy with the sounds of large seabird colonies. Sandeels also support a whole marine food web and are vital for bigger fish, whales, seals and many other species of seabird. In fact, some of our seabirds are under so much threat that major projects, like LIFE on the Edge and the Solent Seascape Project, are working to help them. You can discover the importance of this at reserves like RSPB Pagham Harbour in Sussex, which is a site where threatened Little Terns come to breed.
Spring sees a seabird spectacle around the South Coast, with various species including Black-headed Gulls, Common, Sandwich and Little Terns breeding here, such as at RSPB Pagham Harbour in Sussex.
Terns feed on small fish, like Sandeels, in the seas around the coast, so these sites are vital for their survival. However, threatened by diminishing habitat availability, disturbance to their desired nesting sites, the impacts of pollution and sea-level rise, the shore birds within the coastal areas of Hampshire and Sussex are under pressure.
LIFE on the Edge (an EU-funded Nature project) is taking steps to address this by carrying out coastal habitat creation and restoration. Led by the RSPB with the National Trust, the project focuses on restoring habitat within multiple Special Protected Areas (SPAs) across England designated for their importance for specific marine and wetland bird species.
In Hampshire and Sussex, the focus is on Chichester and Langstone Harbour SPA. Common and Sandwich Terns migrate from their west African wintering grounds to nest here, along with Little Terns, which in the UK are the second rarest breeding seabird. In Langstone Harbour, with funding from LIFE on the Edge and Bird Aware Solent, work is planned for 2023 and 2024 to increase safe breeding spaces for these species on the lagoon islands at the West Hayling Local Nature Reserve and on the main RSPB reserve offshore in the harbour. Along with nesting, shorebirds will also be able to roost safely on these islands. These works also support the Solent Seascape Project, an ambitious new multi-partner Endangered Landscape Project which aims to restore the Solent’s natural riches. These projects hope to build on previous successes, such as at Pagham Harbour where the creation of a new island as part of community led sea defence works in 2021 has allowed an increase in the breeding success of Little Terns.
Image: Little Tern, adult bird returning to nest with fish. © Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Breeding on islands means some seabird colonies are less at risk from disturbance, but for those birds nesting on shingle beaches (where they make a small scrape in the shingle to lay their eggs) a little extra help is needed for their protection. At RSPB Pagham Harbour in Sussex and multiple other sites within the Solent, the breeding colony is at risk of disturbance from off-lead dogs and visitors who are unaware of these birds, which along with the physical impact of a misplaced foot, can cause the adult terns to leave their nests. This makes the eggs exposed to the weather and vulnerable to predation. To help prevent this, temporary fences and signs are installed around nesting areas, but it is the Volunteer Rangers that make all the difference.
Volunteer rangers chat to visitors, raising awareness about these birds, and share tips for protecting them, such as by keeping dogs on leads and giving the birds space. Volunteer RSPB Rangers working with support from LIFE on the Edge and the Pagham Harbour SPA Mitigation Strategy carefully monitor disturbance events, seeing how this effects the colony, along with breeding numbers over the season. In 2022, 31 breeding pairs of Little Terns at Pagham Harbour fledged 26 young, the highest number recorded since the RSPB started looking after the site in 2012! The reserve also supported 335 breeding pairs of Sandwich Terns, 1,434 pairs of Black-headed Gulls and 282 pairs of Mediterranean Gulls.
Pagham Harbour not only provides a home for terns, but also beach-nesting birds such as Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover. These species are also especially sensitive to disturbance and may abandon nests entirely if they feel threatened. It isn’t just the added protection that makes this area great for them though. The rich mud around the harbour is a banquet for these species as it is full of worms, crustaceans and molluscs. Curlew, Lapwing, Grey Plover and Godwits all come here for this specific habitat.
Image: Ringed plover © Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
It’s important breeding seabirds are given the space they need to thrive, and by learning from successful projects, these species can be protected across the South Coast. For example, the RSPB also leads the Chesil Beach Little Tern Recovery Project in Dorset, which sees the breeding colony here protected with similar methods by a dedicated team of volunteers led by an RSPB Project Officer, who together help monitor the colony and engage with the public.
Along the coast at RSPB Dungeness in Kent, the 2017 ‘Re-Tern Project’ saw the height of shingle islands in Burrowes Pit raised. Burrowes Pit is a freshwater lake, within easy flying distance of the coast for hungry Terns.
This conservation work was designed to provide safer long-term habitat for birds that traditionally nest on coastlines, as these habitats come under increasing pressure from climate change. For beach-nesting birds, the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise and storm surges, can put entire colonies at risk, which is why work such as this at RSPB Dungeness is so important. The raising of the islands in 2017 has helped Common Terns breed here, but habitat restoration hasn’t stopped there as more new islands were created in 2022, meaning there are now 57 islands in total at the reserve available for nesting and roosting sites.
The commitment of volunteers is hugely valuable for the success of the Little Tern’s breeding season at Pagham Harbour.
Volunteer Ranger Brian Catchpole explains why he got involved in the project: “Volunteering in conservation is a great pastime and so rewarding, particularly talking to the public. Here at Pagham Harbour we have the added bonus of monitoring the progress of the Little Tern breeding programme too.”
Volunteer Ranger Keith Hardy added: ‘’Wandering round a beautiful nature reserve and talking to people about the birds is not really a chore but a pleasure!”
Image: Church Norton spit, RSPB Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve, West Sussex, January. © Kevin Harwood (rspb-images.com)
Discover more about RSPB Pagham Harbour here and RSPB Langstone Harbour here
Find out more about the LIFE on the Edge project at projectlote.life or visit our website.
You can help protect rare beach-nesting birds by giving them space when visiting the areas they do still breed in this summer. Together we can help keep our Wild Isles Wild!
Main Image: Little tern chicks sitting with parent on nest. © Kevin Simmonds (rspb-images.com)
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