One Good Tern

The Little tern (the beastie shown, is the closely-related Arctic tern) is the UK's rarest seabird. A National Trust (NT)-monitored site at Blakeney Point in Norfolk has had its best breeding success for more than quarter of a century (https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2020-12-11/north-norfolk-tern-colony-enjoys-best-breeding-season-for-26-years). Some 154 breeding pairs of birds have fledged 201 chicks. The success seems to be a side-effect of the Covid-19 restrictions. Although these made it difficult for the Trust to monitor the birds, they also resulted in many fewer visitors (some with their dogs?) visiting the site. Disturbance is a major factor inhibiting breeding success in these birds. The Little terns also nested further away from the site's watch tower, which seemed to reduce predator activity on the colony. The reasons for this are difficult to establish but the watch tower may have generally acted as a focus, bringing predators to the colony. The colony may have been forced, in former years, to nest near it, as this was where NT operatives most strongly enforced visitor exclusions. Without so much disturbance, the Little terns, were 'happy' to nest further away from the tower thus evading some predators (and, perhaps, being able, by group activity, to drive others away).