Little Tern project fears
‘SOMETHING AMISS’ IN BALTRAY AS LOCAL PROJECT SEEKS MEETINGS WITH WILDLIFE SERVICE, DROGHEDA PORT AND HERITAGE COUNCIL.
RENEWED efforts are to be made to ensure the viability of the breeding grounds for the little terns at The Haven in Baltray. Last year saw the worst year on record for nesting at the site and the lowest number of visiting adults since the systematic management of the site in 2008. Those behind the project say that ‘something is amiss’ at the location, as analysis of other little tern colonies in the Irish sea and east coast of Britain did not reveal anything exceptional about the year in terms of breeding success.
One issue raised is the dredging of the nearby Boyne estuary, needed to keep the bustling shipping lane open into Drogheda.
The aim of the group now is to ‘establish an agreement between the various parties for a dredging regime in the Boyne estuary’ that will ensure the favourable status of little terns into the future in accordance with the Irish and EU legislation.
They also want to ‘ continue efforts to ensure Baltray colony is managed and available for Little Tern in April/May 2018 including marshalling of volunteers, funding, and collaboration with the various interested parties including NPWS, Drogheda Port and the Heritage Council.
They are also seeing to ‘conduct further studies into the potential impact of dredging on the site including more extensive monitoring of both dredging activities and their impact on various species impacted on the food chain and extend the conservation activities on site to include the other species and habitats in the area.’
Because the whole area is designated under both the Birds and Habitats Directives, dredging requires an Appropriate Assessment (AA) to be carried out and it indicates that the dredging is ‘remote’ from the Baltray beach and ‘will have no impact on this species.’
‘ The wintering bird populations in this SPA use the polders which are behind the training walls that define the river channel.
‘ These polders become exposed at low tide and are used for feeding and roosting by wintering bird species which the SPA is designated for.
‘ There will be no dredging activity within the polders and so there will be no direct impact on wintering birds,’ it states.
‘Given that the waterfowl populations in the Boyne estuary currently tolerate a high volume of shipping through the SPA, it is considered highly unlikely that the additional barges, which will be in operation for 2 – 3 weeks at a time on a number of occasions during the year, associated with the disposal of the dredged sediments will have any significant impact on waterfowl populations for which the SPA is designated.’
Those involved with the little tern project say that the birds ‘ breed in an area immediately adjacent to the dredging activity, and their foraging area is directly coincident with it.’
The AA report also states that , ‘As Little Terns tend to feed close to the shore, they are at a low exposure to the disturbance and impacts on the benthos and associated fish species associated with marine aggregate dredging operations. Consequently, their vulnerability to these issues has been assessed as being low.
‘As they are relatively insensitive to issues related to shipping, their vulnerability to the shipping associated with marine aggregate dredging operations has also been assessed as being low.
‘Little Terns are highly exposed to the turbidity and increased sedimentation associated with marine aggregate dredging operations. Little Terns may be sensitive to increased sedimentation as the deposition of re-suspended sediment may smother the eggs and larvae of key prey species. Consequently, Little Terns have been assessed as being moderately vulnerable to the effects of increased sedimentation.’
The Baltray Little Tern Colony Report 2017 remarks, ‘During 2017 dredging works were observed at the mouth of the river on multiple occasions. During one instance, it was possible to observe the plume of silt/sand stretching ca. 200m from the vessel along the shoreline, southwards on the falling tide. A focused observation of 5 adult Little Terns feeding along the edge of
THEY ALSO WANT TO ‘CONTINUE EFFORTS TO ENSURE BALT RAY COLONY IS MANAGED AND AVAILABLEFOR LITTLE TERN IN APRIL/MAY 2018 INCLUDING MARSHALLING OF VOLUNTEERS, FUNDING, AND COLLABORATION WITH THE VARIOUS INTERESTED PARTIES.
the river Boyne close to the colony during the breeding season on a mid-tide (rising), indicated a low success rate, with only 2 successful dives in a 60 minute period.
‘It is possible that a reduction in the clarity of the water, due to an increase in suspended sediment may affect the tern’s ability to forage in the estuarine area, which has been an important historic feeding area.’
Little terns have been nesting at the Boyne estuary mouth for many decades and in the past the site has produced up to 100 nesting pairs with circa 200 fledglings.
They were first definitively reported breeding in county Louth in 1900 by RJ Ussher “Little Terns have laid on the coasts of Louth...” and this refers to records collected from 1866 (Ussher &Warren, 1900); unfortunately, Ussher does not mention the location in county Louth.
The latest report on the site states that the Little Terns at Baltray have undergone a series of extremely poor breeding seasons and occasional rearing of a small number of young but with productivity hovering just above zero. Attempts were made to monitor the site from 1984 onwards, with observers noting that Little Terns continued to attempt to breed at Baltray but that breeding success was very low.
A project began at Baltray in 2007, initially run by a team of volunteers coordinated by Sandra McKeever and Margaret Reilly; this effort re-
sulted in the foundation of the Louth Nature Trust with others, which enabled funding from the Heritage Council and NPWS.
The implementation of wardening by dedicated volunteers, in conjunction with fencing to protect the colony, led to a dramatic improvement in the breeding success of the birds.
Some years funding allowed for 24 hour monitoring and those on night duty could chase away would be predators. Between 2009 and 2010 when this was in operation, 190 chicks were born.
At other times, the site has taken great hits, from the tides and on one occasion, a fox took 45 eggs in one night.
Hooded Crows, Kestrels, now nesting around Beaulieu, rooks and other birds have proved difficult to deter.
There were low tern numbers in the area in 2016, likely down to a combination of reasons, including adverse weather during the migration, food shortage and heavy corvid disturbance suffered by the birds that did arrive.
2018 is likely to be a big year for the project as volunteers look forward to a more productive season.