I confess, I've been sat on a secret for the last 6 weeks. Whilst the summer has arrived and most people have been lighting barbecues and putting up England bunting, I've been almost single mindedly paying attention to the Solents terns and watching each step of the breeding season progress with finger bitingly tense apprehension.
It is now my pleasure to inform you that, as you read this, the egg incubation stage has all but finished and the remaining little terns nesting in the harbour are now rearing chicks!
Above: A little tern chick in situ within the Langstone Harbour SPA (Pic by Dawn Thompson, 2014 (!))
These are the first little tern chicks to exist here since 2011! In fact, you actually need to go back to 2010 to find a year with more than just one chick! They represent not only a great success for the Langstone Little Tern project but also a renewed hope for the future that little terns in the Solent will not simply continue to dwindle in numbers until they disappear altogether.
They have a long way to go however.
In order to safely reach fledging age (where they're capable of flight and feeding), each chick needs to survive a troubled 20 days at the nest site avoiding all the dangers that the world can throw at them. So far, they've avoided being eaten by a fox that searched through the islands, a crow that made light work of nearby plover nests and peregrines that have been eating some of their older relatives! As well as predation, the chicks that are left have managed to get through a series of spring tides without being washed away and stayed warm with their parents diligently returning to the nesting site each time they've been disturbed by people getting too close.
Worryingly, small fish numbers in the harbour appear to be lower presently than they were this time last year meaning that our new parents will have to work extra hard to make sure their hungry young offspring are getting all the nutrition they need. We can only keep our fingers crossed that they'll be able to bridge the gap and keep the steady supply of fish coming.
They're all being watched extremely closely at present, both in person and via camera to see exactly what's going on. This is nature after all and as such, despite our hopes and hard work, there is no guarantee that any will make it yet. Eventually, over the next month or so, we will find out how many survive this very sensitive time. It needs to be remembered that every single chick fledging has the potential to go on and start a whole new lineage of Solent little terns to bring back this population from the brink. Even one chick fledging will represent a 100% increase on the last three years, they're that precious.
Their future is currently in the balance.
We're not there yet but with the community's continued help, a breakthrough this year is very much possible. That being the case, now seems a good time to say thank you for the funding from Interreg IVA PANACHE (Protected area network across the channel ecosystem), the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Veolia Environmental Trust, The Torrs Charitable Trust’ and (as of this week) the Hildon Foundation. Just as importantly though, we simply couldn't have got this far without help from our dedicated volunteers, local youth groups, schools, and the friendly harbour users and businesses here as well as Langstone Harbour Board, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Havant Borough Council, Hampshire County Council and all our supporters across the country and further afield. Whatever happens, you all deserve a big thank you from our new parents! Watch this space.