The first two little terns of the year arrived on East Scrape this morning, joining at least ten common and 115 Sandwich terns. Their timing couldn't be better, as our little tern team were out preparing for their arrival on Monday.
Guest blog by Rhiannon Baker – Little Tern Project Officer, Suffolk. [Note: this blog was written on Monday, before the current spell of wintry showers arrived]
Let the season commence - 19/04/17
It's a beautiful sunny day here at Kessingland and the RSPB and Natural England volunteers are rearing to go. Today we are putting up the rope and electric fencing ready for the little terns arrival in Suffolk. As we walk along the beach ringed plovers are scuttling around, feeding on the invertebrates hiding amongst the shingle.
Ringed plover adults on the Beach
There is already a rope fence set up for a ringed plover nest with four eggs laid into a small shingle scrape.
A ringed plover nest
These fences are so important for these beach nesting birds. If you aren’t aware of their presence you could easily step on them by mistake.
Throughout the day we paced out all of the wooden posts, put up the rope and electric fencing and put out all the chick shelters and decoys ready for the little terns arrival.
Little terns nest on UK beaches between late April to early September before migrating back to South Africa in the winter. They can be seen flying around the Suffolk coast feeding on sandeels.
Without all the effort from the fantastic volunteers, these fences would not be in place in time for these spectacularly rare elegant birds, so a massive thank you to them all.