It's the time of year when we start to review and reflect on the recent breeding bird season. I can now share with you the exciting news that at least 278 pairs of common tern decided to rear their offspring at Saltholme this year! Creating the ideal conditions for nesting terns required a lot of preparation and hard work from our dedicated team of staff and volunteers, this all began back in a rather chilly February when the group headed out in their boat to give the islands a spring clean.
Team effort. Work party volunteers wash detritus and seed from the island.
In with the new. Fresh terram (a geotextile fabric) and over 10 tonne of cockle shell was shifted onto the islands.
A waiting game then commenced with visitors relying on raucous black-headed gulls for entertainment until the bulk of the terns arrived back in May. The birds quickly settled on the nesting grounds and a few weeks later the pitter-patter of tiny tern chicks could be heard by creatures with extremely good hearing.
Welcome to Saltholme, a newly hatched tern chick together with tiny egg tooth.
In July the Tees Ringing Group headed to Saltholme in order to assist with monitoring, some of the chicks were given a special darvic ring in order to help study their ecology. Information on migratory routes and an individual's lifespan can now be gathered with a pair of binoculars in hand. If you spot a common tern with a black darvic ring and a white three numeric code like 2.86 in the photo below then please share your observation with Allan Snape from the ringing group, Allan can be contacted via email at allan.snape@talktalk.net.
Unique, common tern chick 2.86 was ringed on the Main Lake in July by the Tees Ringing Group (Chris Brown).
From early July our tern chicks made their maiden voyages with many heading out to the estuary with their parents in order to take advantage of the north sea fish stocks. At the time of writing a few tern chicks still remain on the reserve however it won't be long until they too take to the air and begin their long migration towards wintering grounds along the West African Coast.
Saltholme born and bred, over the last week 6.30 has been enjoying fresh fish along the seafront in Hartlepool (Chris Brown).