Little tern pairs halve as dog breaches hit 427 in May
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Little tern nesting pairs at Seaton Carew have dropped to 55, roughly half the up to 110 pairs volunteers expected at the colony near Hartlepool.
- Derek Wood, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust's little tern warden, recorded 427 dog breaches of the exclusion zone in May during weekday monitoring hours of 14:00 to 20:00 only.
- Volunteer wardens logged 93 additional dog breaches in the exclusion zone on a single day in June, prompting Wood to declare the zone "clearly not working."
- Protective fencing around the terns' normal nesting ground was washed away by high tides when the first birds arrived this year, according to the trust.
- The outer dog exclusion zone has been reinstated on surrounding beach after the inner protective barrier was repaired, in an effort to prevent further disturbance.
- Wood warned that the birds, already "spooked by flooding and disturbance," may abandon Seaton Carew for another site if additional stress continues, potentially never returning.
- Little terns — the UK's smallest seabird, amber-listed on the UK conservation concern list — migrate from West Africa and typically leave Seaton Carew by mid-to-late August.
Why it matters: With only 55 of 110 expected nesting pairs and 427 dog breaches in May alone — plus 93 in a single June day — the exclusion zone at Seaton Carew is failing to protect the UK's smallest seabird. Warden Derek Wood warned the colony, which has nested there only since 2019, may abandon the site permanently.
