Welcome back little terns – please help us keep them safe!

The legally-protected little terns have again taken up residence on a stretch of beach at Seaton Carew after nesting there for the first time in 2019. About 130 birds recently arrived at the site.

Weighing only 40-60g and about the size of a starling, little terns are the smallest of the five species of terns that breed in the UK.

They winter in West Africa and migrate 3,000 miles to nest here from May to August.

The birds lay their well-camouflaged eggs in shallow scrapes in the sand, but this makes the nests very difficult to spot and leaves them extremely vulnerable to disturbance and damage.

The birds’ nesting area at Seaton Carew, behind the bus station and close to the resort’s centre, has been fenced off. Warning signs are in place and the site is being monitored by wardens and volunteers from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. 

From left: Councillor Gary Allen, Steve Ashton, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust People and Wildlife Manager, and Derek Wood in front of the little terns’ nesting site

Councillor Gary Allen, Chair of Hartlepool Borough Council’s Adult and Community-Based Services Committee, said: “It’s such a privilege to have the little terns back with us again, especially as they have flown such a long way to nest on this beach.

“Unfortunately, the nesting site’s closeness to the promenade does make it vulnerable to disturbance.

“The majority of people who use the beach do respect the site, but there have been occasions in previous years when people have walked through it or let dogs off leads in the vicinity – in breach of the dog exclusion order which applies to this particular stretch of beach – so we are always keen to remind people to please keep clear of the site and keep dogs away too.

“Thank you to people for their understanding and a big thank you too to the wardens and volunteers from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. Together we are helping to support a new generation of little terns!”

Little terns

Derek Wood, the Trust’s Lead Warden for the Seaton Carew little terns’ site, said: “Because they are beach-nesting birds, the little terns are vulnerable to accidental as well as deliberate disturbance and they are prone to abandon the site if they are persistently disturbed, so we would remind people to please take care if they are nearby.

“We would like to thank people for their support. Due to the work we’ve been doing in partnership with the Council in recent years, public awareness of the need to protect the nesting site has steadily increased and we are delighted about that.”