A Sad Tern Up

The Arctic tern is a tough bird making impressive annual migrations of many thousands of miles. The UK's largest mainland breeding colony of these birds is in Northumberland. This year, there were a healthy 1600 breeding pairs of Arctic terns there. Things were looking good, until 600 tern chicks and a number of adult birds died in this colony (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/10/dead-arctic-tern-chicks-northumberland-long-nanny-bird-flu-suspected). It's not been confirmed precisely why these Arctic terns died. It's suspected, however, that Bird 'Flu is involved. Bird 'Flu decimated seabird populations on the nearby Farne Islands. It's essential to identify the root cause of this population 'crash'. Other factors e.g. food availability and/or plastic polution could be involved. If the cause is unclear, one can't help these birds recover. Even when the deaths are explained, however, it be years before Arctic tern numbers recover in Northumberland.