Gronant Little Terns : Done and Dusted

First off, last weeks Presentation Evening was a great success. Following a very enjoyable season down at Gronant, all the wardens, staff volunteers and other interested folk got together to talk all about our special little seabird - the Little T's! The project team here have been overwhelmed by the support received from volunteers over the season, especially their uplifting and positive vibe - which makes a huge difference on the most difficult of stormy days - continued throughout the evening and will, I am sure, last until April next year, when it all starts off again.

Prof David Norman gave a very interesting account of his studies over the last 32 years, including an insight into the understudied growth rate of Little Tern Chicks, something that we hope to investigate further in the coming years.

Little is also known about Little Tern dispersal and demographics, year of first breeding, migration routes and natal site fidelity. Dr. Leah Williams from RSPB Conservation Science spoke during the evening about the plans to start answering some of these questions through a nationwide colour-ringing and resighting project developed with funding from the LIFE+ Little Tern Recovery Project. More must be understood if we want to effectively conserve the species and ensure future generations will have abundant wildlife to enjoy.

A similar colour-ringing project has started this year on the east coast of Ireland and has already produced interesting results! The recently fledged bird pictured below was found on Hilbre Island on Aug 10th, and had flown 190km from Kilcoole, CO Wicklow and sheds some light on Little Tern Movements around the Irish sea.

Little Tern Fledgling with Irish colour-ring hilbrebirdobs.blogspot.com

With the potential of more colour-ring recoveries from elsewhere in the future (including the Isle of Man and Cumbrian colonies) we hope to learn more about Little Tern movement, and could highlight the importance of the Dee estuary to Little Tern migration.