Volunteers help conservation work on Coquet Island
The breeding birds may have left the island for the winter, but RSPB Coquet Island is still alive with life.
The wintering roost has built up with large numbers of Geese and Gulls spending their nights safely resting there. The important wintering wader, the Purple Sandpiper, is back and is often seen along the shoreline, blending into the rocks and foraging among the seals.
Small migrating birds such as Robins and Reed Buntings can be found sheltering in the elder trees in the gardens. As for the wardening team and volunteers, this is a time when we are busy trying to complete all the maintenance we need to do before the breeding birds return.
Sadly, last year, the front of North Terrace, one of our breeding areas for the Roseate Terns, slipped.
While this didn’t impact the success of the Roseate Terns (with one of our most successful years to date), it did mean that we had to consider how to stop the rest of the terrace from slipping away, and how to undertake such a task.
With all the necessary consents in place, the start of the terrace renovations is now underway. A much-needed supporting wall is being built to prevent the rest of the terrace from slipping (see photo).
There are also plans to add support to the other levels of the terrace and provide artificial burrows in areas of collapsing ground along the fence line. This area of the island will keep us busy for a long time to come.
So if, over the past months, you have looked towards the island, you may have seen teams of people working hard above the jetty, as renovations are underway.
And while weather has been impacting our progress, slowly but surely we are getting there. These repairs and improvements will provide more space for the Roseate and Common Terns to breed in an area that we already know they favour.
With a tight deadline, being the Terns’ return, we are definitely fighting against the clock and the weather. The work does need to be done by then.
Thankfully, we have an amazing, dedicated team of RSPB volunteers who have spent many hours assisting us with all the tasks, from the fun to the not so fun, including disinfecting nest boxes, digging holes and bird surveys; and undertaking all this in whatever the weather has thrown at us. I am grateful for all the effort they have put in.
We would just like the weather to be on our side now and cannot wait to see what this upcoming bird season brings.
Rebekah Goodwill
