Main image: Sandwich Tern (c) Chantal-McLeod Nolan
Mesmerised by the Manx Shearwater on Wild Isles recently? While we are lucky to have incredible sealife living around our coastlines, all is not well with the state of our seas. Above the waves, our wild isles are home to around eight million seabirds. We have a huge responsibility to protect these species and the incredible habitats they rely on.
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. Warming seas, ocean acidification and rising sea levels are affecting the entire food chain, from the smallest plants and animals to iconic species such as Puffins and beach-nesting Terns.
In fact, some of our seabirds are so under threat that major projects, like LIFE on the Edge (LOTE) have been started to help them.
Through the LOTE project, the RSPB is creating and restoring coastal habitats for seabirds across England but more needs to be done to protect our coasts, oceans and the species that depend on them for survival.
What is the RSPB doing to help seabirds in Suffolk?
Since 1945, the UK’s coastlines have been under threat. Reasons for this include natural erosion – when material like rocks and soil are moved by water, climate change-induced sea-level rise, and developmental and human use. The stats are daunting – 15% of intertidal habitat (the area where the sea meets the land between high and low tide) has been lost, 8,000 ha of saltmarsh has gone, 18% of dunes have disappeared and a staggering 46% of its shingle habitat is now no longer there.
These are stark losses for our coastlines and will deeply impact species that relied on that missing habitat to nest and successfully rear young, or to safely roost during high tides. Coastal erosion and increasing flood events, made worse by climate change, have severely impacted beach nesting birds and this in combination with human presence on the coast means it is important to protect the remaining areas that birds use.
RSPB Minsmere near Saxmundham in Suffolk is an important safe haven for nesting seabirds and waders with their shingle islands. In 2022, the reserve recorded 64 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 286 pairs of Common Tern and 123 pairs of Avocet. Unfortunately, though the iconic Minsmere Scrape – a series of shallow lagoons featuring a number of small islands that have been in place for over 50 years, have deteriorated over time. The islands were becoming too overgrown to support the species breeding there.
Avocet (c) Chris Gomersall/RSPB-Images.com
However big changes are currently underway to rejuvenate the Scrape through LOTE - an EU funded project, and the National Grid Landscape Enhancement Initiative. The end of this year will see the completion of a three-year landscape enhancement project, which has involved reprofiling and enlarging the existing islands and adding shingle to some of them, making them more suitable for species like Terns to use. New islands are also being created which provide alternative habitat and reduce competition for nesting space. Additional changes at the Scrape include removing reedbed to maximise the lagoon habitat and improving the opportunities to see nesting birds from the hides.
These changes will not only benefit the Sandwich Terns, Common Terns and Avocets, but will also provide breeding and feeding sites for many other species that either use Minsmere as a stopping point on their migratory route or migrate to the site to overwinter there (52 species of passage waders have been recorded at Minsmere, with an average of 32 species visiting each year).
In addition, there is potential for the one of the UK’s smallest and rarest breeding seabirds, the Little Tern, to nest on the islands in the future. They used to nest at Minsmere however, due to recreational disturbance and coastal erosion, they haven’t nested on the beach since 2008.
Island habitat creation on the Scrape at Minsmere (c) Louise Chapman
To help protect the site against the impact of climate change in the future, new water control structures have been installed to help control the water depths in the lagoons and move water around the site to where it is needed – very important when we have more and more extremes of weather leading to flooding or drought conditions.
What is the RSPB doing to help seabirds generally on the east coast?
England’s east coast wetlands, stretching from the Humber to the Thames, are a globally important place for nature, rivalling some of the planets most iconic natural sites. They provide an essential refuge for millions of migratory birds each year travelling from and between places as far as Canada, Greenland and Siberia and Southern Africa. This is part of their trip along the East Atlantic Flyway, one of just eight ‘superhighways’ used by migratory birds.
The interconnectivity of these migratory routes means that any threats to habitats on the east coast won’t only impact species here but will also have knock-on effects in other parts of the world. It’s the classic case of remove one brick and the whole wall could come tumbling down. That’s why we’re delivering conservation projects such as LOTE up and down the coastline.
The globally important role these wetlands play for migratory birds has also enabled the RSPB and wider partners, including the National Trust, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, several Local Authorities and The Crown Estate to submit an application for the east coast wetlands to be added to the UK's Tentative list of potential World Heritage Sites.
The east coast wetlands would qualify as a Natural World Heritage Site status because of the key role they play in supporting migratory birds as well as globally leading examples of coastal adaptation in the face of a changing climate. By working with nature, we can protect the wildlife in this world class network of wetlands, benefitting both wildlife and local communities long into the future.
It’s safe to say that RSPB Minsmere and the LOTE project are definitely doing their bit in contributing to the east coast as a site of great importance when it comes to providing habitat for wetland birds.
How does this involve local communities?
RSPB Minsmere is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers from the local community and as the habitat restoration work at the Scrape has been occurring, they have been helping remove the plastic fertiliser bags, which had, back in the 1960s, been placed on the islands to suppress the vegetation. Volunteers have also helped in preparing the Scrape each autumn by weeding the island by hand in advance of the Terns, Gulls and waders nesting.
Laura Raven regularly gives her time to volunteer at RSPB Minsmere, “It has been a real privilege to volunteer here as the second generation of my family to protect local biodiversity in this way. Having been involved in the habitat management works on the Scrape for several years, I am excited to see what affects these improvements that have been funded by LIFE on the Edge, will have on the birds and other wildlife in the area. Minsmere is such a special place for so many people I hope the biodiversity of the site will be protected for future generations.”
What can I do to help?
If you are local to RSPB Minsmere and would like to volunteer there, get hands-on with helping wildlife and enthuse people about how amazing the site is for seabirds and lots of other wildlife on the Suffolk coast, then visit our RSPB Volunteering webpage and input Minsmere into the search box, then selecting the address that comes up. You will then be able to view all current opportunities at RSPB Minsmere. If you aren't local to Minsmere, please input your post code to that page and find what other RSPB volunteering opportunities there are near you.
You can also help protect beach nesting birds by given them space when visiting areas they breed in this summer. Together we can help keep our Wild Isles wild!