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Roseate Tern Nest Box Update!
Tue 1st Jul, 2014
The YCN team is always delighted to put a percentage of money earned from its tours back into nature conservation, and last year we were proud to become the very first sponsor of a Roseate Tern nest box on Coquet Island in Northumberland. 90% of the UK’s population of ‘Rosies’ breed on Coquet, following the RSPB making the island a nature reserve and creating a home for these rare birds.
Our sponsorship began at the end of last year’s breeding season, too late for any terns to adopt a box. However, after their incredible 4000-mile journey from West Africa, the first ‘Rosies’ returned to the island on 23rd April this year, and the YCN nest box has become home to a pair which made a nest scrape in the shingle inside it. By 31st May they had laid one egg. Although Rosies generally lay two eggs, ‘our’ pair did not seem inclined to produce another!
Rosies tend to return to the same nest year after year, so if they survive, ‘our’ pair are likely to use the YCN box again in 2015. Meanwhile however, we await the hatching of the egg, which should be happening any day now - watch this space!
Gaynor Chapman
UPDATE 2, 21 July 2014: A Rosy For the Solstice!
In a further update on the YCN nest box, the egg hatched around the summer solstice, on 22nd June, and the chick was ringed a few days later. To our delight the chick, now a month old, is reported to be well-grown and healthy.
The ‘Rosy’ colony on Coquet Island generally has had an fantastic year, the second-best in fact for almost 30 years, with 90 pairs of terns nesting and only two chicks lost. This is almost certainly owing to a plentiful supply of sand-eels this year, providing all the seabirds with sufficient food. Good news indeed.
Gaynor Chapman