They’ve f lown 3,500 miles here... to find council has blocked nest holes with nets
SAND martins returning to Britain for the summer found a council had covered their nesting sites with nets.
The birds, exhausted after flying 3,500 miles from their winter homes in Africa, were filmed flapping in agitation as they tried to enter their burrows in cliffs in Norfolk.
After wildlife lovers reacted with outrage, saying hundreds of sand martins were at risk of becoming trapped in the nets, the local authority met RSPB officials and agreed yesterday to remove some of the netting.
North Norfolk Council approved the use of netting along three-quarters of a mile of cliffs at Bacton as part of a £22million sea defence scheme to protect hundreds of homes and a huge gas terminal. It wants to encourage the sand martins to dig their burrows elsewhere on the coast.
The Mail has already highlighted the outcry at the widespread use of netting to stop birds nesting or roosting in trees.
One of those who protested to North Norfolk Council, Maggie Wilcox, said: ‘Hundreds of sand martins will be prevented from nesting and breeding successfully.’
Jeff Knott, regional director of the RSPB, said: ‘There is a risk of birds getting stuck in or behind the netting and as a result dying.’ Yesterday the council said some nets would be removed from the upper parts of the cliffs while discussions with campaigners continue. The RSPB said it will continue to press for the netting to be reduced to one 50m (165ft) long by 7m (23ft) high stretch, using a much finer mesh. It told campaigners not to try to remove the netting themselves.
Around 20 protesters from Save The Bacton Sand Martins gathered on the beach yesterday. One, Juli Kett-Brodie, 52, said: ‘It is good the council has had a rethink. The sand martins have been coming here for years.’