Little Terns volunteers base vandalised
THOSE involved in the Little Tern Project at Baltray were shocked and disgusted after the caravan used as a base for volunteers was vandalised.
However, there has been good news for the project after a generous supporter offered the group her own mobile home free of charge when a fundraising page was set up to cover the cost of the damage to the original caravan.
The vandals caused a substantial amount of damage to the vehicle, using a sledgehammer to smash up the interior and even shooting arrows into the side of the van.
The van was left ‘ thrashed beyond belief ’ and caused a major headache for Louth Nature Trust with no shelter for their wardens this year.
‘We’re in a very remote area, out in the wildereness, we’re three miles from anywhere which makes it all the more aggravating because it takes a lot of work to get it out there,’ said Dominic Hartigan from the Little Terns Project.
However, he said a fundraising campaign for the repairs garnered a fantastic response with one woman offering her two bedroom mobile home to them free of charge while numerous people have also offered to volunteer their services.
‘We are busy refurbishing a caravan and we’ve been offered another one as a result of Cathal’s campaign which is lovely and so generous. We are currently investigating how to get it on site,’ said Dominic. ‘It’s very gratifying indeed and we’d personally like to thank everyone for the overwhelming offers of support.’
‘ The good news is we have built up a very strong support over the years in so far as people who regularly walk on the beach and access it through Baltray. They ‘ve come to realise that they access the beach on the left during nesting season from April to August because the Terns are nesting on the right so there is a kind of silent support which is lovely we couldn’t operate without it.’
He said they are very grateful for all the offers of help and the support the campaign has received and they are currently waiting to see how the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions will affect their volunteering effort this year.
‘We’re still in preparation mode and trying to figure things out in terms of how we can do it safely. The birds have arrived, they don’t wait for restrictions to be lifted! Mummys dont wait to have children, life goes on. Our interest is peripheral to their life.
‘I’m in the process of following up all the responses of interest from people who have come to the page and want to volunteer their services. We’re waiting with bated breath as to how these things will change and they may not change at all so we may have to say look, you’ll have to wait until things change.’
‘We have about 12 regular stalwarts and then we’d have a following of 400-500 on the Facebook Page. It’s rapidly increasing because of Cathal’s efforts and we’ve had a lot of shares.’
The little terns breed in colonies on Baltray beach each year. The bird lays two to four eggs on the ground which leaves the nest and eggs vulnerable to predators including foxes.
The Little Tern Project involves a group of volunteers who do everything they can to protect the eggs during the nesting season.
‘We look after it because it is an endangered species and it is orange listed,’ explained Dominic. ‘All birds are endangered when it comes to engagement with humans because we tend to encroach on their territory.’
He said the birds arrived last year at the end of April and started nesting at the start of May.
‘We had something like 40 eggs, then one night the fox came through and ate the lot. The third week in May. So all the birds upped an left. Twelve day slater they started coming back. They laid over 80 eggs in 45-50 nests. They actually hatched 60-70 eggs and we ring tagged over 50 chicks.