Hi All
With the return of our first common tern on 13 April, i thought i would give you some information about the common tern nesting rafts we provide for them (and the black headed gulls) to use.
During March the management volunteers had a few busy weeks getting the rafts ready for the breeding season, 100's of black headed gull were already on site waiting expectantly for the rafts and we were not expecting a tern until April.
In preparation for the breeding season we removed two very old and dilapidated loafing rafts from in front of the tern hide and replaced them with one of our new style nesting rafts. This provides a nice large area for gulls and terns not to mention wildfowl to loaf around on and fingers crossed may even bring some nesting nearer to the hide. The management volunteers showed great dedication to duty cleaning off the mud and guano (a lovely odour!) from this raft on a very wet and cold day, so my thanks to them. We then loaded it up with fresh stone and a few chick shelters before positioning it.
Another raft (actually a group of 6 old style rafts) was also positioned on the lagoon and required considerable work, this included removing the internal fences to prevent chicks becoming trapped away from their nest after their first flight, joining the rafts together, repairing rotting floor boards, posts and fences as well as cleaning all the muck and nesting materiel from the stones, a very awkward and labour intensive job.
The black headed gulls are all getting in the swing of the season and quickly made use of the rafts, i expect we'll see nest building starting soon, there is plenty of noisy courtship action already.
We have also just finished constructing a new raft which we will hold back until May to offer the later arriving terns some clear nesting space. So keep an eye out for that and fingers crossed for good numbers of common tern returning to breed this year.
Thanks
Vicky