Tern colony star attraction on North East coast

Feb 2 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

RARE seabirds have become the star terns of the North East coast.

There are fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs of little terns in Britain and the species has been in decline for the past 30 years. But last year the little tern colony on a busy stretch of the County Durham heritage coastline enjoyed a bumper year, with 60 pairs fledging a record 118 youngsters.

Much of that success is due to volunteers Trevor Stephenson and Derek Brown who, with a group of like-minded helpers, give up their summers to safeguard the colony.

The birds, which winter on the west coast of Africa, began to establish a nesting colony on Crimdon beach in the mid-1990s.

But the spot they chose is near several caravan sites and is also heavily used by dog walkers, families and for a range of leisure pursuits.

Now each May the volunteers fence off the 250 metre long and 50 metre wide area of beach used by the nesting birds, put up information panels and hand out leaflets from their base hut to beach users.

Trevor, a retired pit mechanic from Blackhall Colliery in County Durham, said: “It is an unbelievably busy part of the beach. I have counted 60 dog walkers in a few hours.

“Then there are the kids playing football, and other users like wind surfers and kite flyers.” The aim of the volunteers is to try to keep disturbance of the birds to a minimum.

Trevor said: “This is a very important colony and when the situation is explained to them most people are very supportive.

“The breeding results from this colony are consistently higher than from any other in the country.