Nesting success for Little Terns in Wexford Harbour

It has been a bumper year for the Little Terns seabird which nests on the sandbanks in Wexford Harbour.   About 180 pairs nested this year and survival of young seems to have been very good.   In an effort to give the birds the best chance of survival the National Parks and Wildlife Service, of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, put temporary signs on the isolated sand bar known as the Dogger Bank a few weeks ago asking people not to land their boats there, because to do so would have scared the nesting terns. 

These signs have since been removed as the last of the young terns learned to fly.

Dominic Berridge of the National Parks and Wildlife Service today said “The eggs and chicks are coloured just like sand and sea shells and it is very easy to step on them without knowing.   If the adults are frightened into the air, it gives an advantage to gulls who swoop in and raid the nests. We took the signs down last week and we are very grateful to all the people who heeded them”. 

Welcoming the news, Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht commented “ I am delighted to hear that the terns are doing so well this year. It is rewarding to see that the effort being put in by my Department and people using Wexford Harbour is having a positive effect on the local bird population because nature can flourish if we lend it a helping hand.”

This has been a good year for all the tern species with excellent breeding success enjoyed by four other tern species that nest at Our Lady’s Island Lake and at Kilcoole in Co. Wicklow.