Roseate terns love island life

The UK’S rarest breeding seabird, the roseate tern, has enjoyed its most successful nesting season since 1970 on Coquet Island, an RSPB reserve off Northumberland, with 118 pairs raising chicks.

Roseate terns were once widespread across the UK. However, their population crashed by 80per cent in the Seventies, when only 16 pairs were left on Coquet Island.

The small island, a mile off the coast, is their only regular UK breeding colony and is the site of 18 years of conservation work.

In 2000, when the breeding population was only 34 pairs, the RSPB introduced nest boxes on specially created shingle terraces to improve the birds’ chances of nesting and raising chicks by providing shelter against predators and bad weather.

The project has also funded live camera feeds in some nest boxes. Samantha Herbert