South Dublin Branch Projects

Dalkey Islands Tern Project

The 2008 Project .. What happened in 2007, '06, '05 & '04 ..

What is the Dalkey Tern Project? The Background ..

What is the Dalkey Tern Project? What is a Tern? There are 5 species of tern breeding in Ireland. They all look like a small slender gull, but with long pointed wings. Their distinct forked tail has given them the name "Sea Swallow". They hover and dive to catch small fish and sand eels. When can you see them? Terns arrive on our shores in April - May and depart around September. Most species spend the winter along the west coast of Africa, though the Arctic tern is known to travel as far as Antartica. Top to bottom: Sandwitch Tern Common Tern Roseate Tern Arctic Tern Little Tern by Michael O'Cleary www.birdsireland.com/oclery.html Roseate Terns are a globally threatened species. Ireland boasts the largest colonies in Europe with over 550 pairs nesting at Rockabill, off Skerries in north Co. Dublin and up to 120 pairs at Lady's Island Lake in Co. Wexford. Roseate Terns need help to increase their numbers. They prefer to nest under cover or in vegetation and they readily use man-made nest boxes. They happily breed among colonies of other tern species where they gain protection from predators. The South Dublin branch of BirdWatch Ireland have fixed a large number of nest boxes on Maiden's Rock, and a small area of Lamb Island has been fence off to exclude the feral goat herd and to allow the vegetation to develop. Roseate Tern: by Robert Vaughan Hopefully, these actions may encourage prospecting Roseate Terns to use these sites thus starting a new colony of this lovely bird in Ireland. BirdWatch Ireland staff and branch volunteers monitor the site and the tern's activities during the breeding season, that is until the end of August. During the breeding season (May-August) please do not land on Maiden's Rock or Lamb Island. The Tern eggs and chicks are very well camouflaged and a careless footstep can mean disaster ! The Terns of Dalkey Common Tern Breeds all around our coast and on some inland lakes. Around 20-25 pairs nest every year on Maiden's Rock laying 2-3 eggs each. Several of the nest boxes put out for the Roseates are used by the Common Tern. The eggs take about 3 weeks to hatch and another 3-4 weeks until the chicks can fly. Arctic Tern Less widespread in Ireland than the Common Tern, but a few pairs breed amongst the colony at Dalkey. Slightly smaller and more delicate than Common Tern, they are the ultimate long-distance traveller, covering over 10,000 miles on their migration journeys each year. Roseate Tern In late summer several hundred Roseates can be seen roosting each evening on Maiden's Rock. These are mostly Rockabill bred birds, gathering before their migration to Africa. It is hoped that in time some of these will return to breed at Dalkey, thus expanding their foothold in Ireland. The nest boxes that can be seen on the Maiden's Rock and in the enclosure on Lamb Island have been placed there to provide shelter should the Roseates attempt to breed at this site. 2008 - Dalkey Islands Tern Project Latest news ... Ringing a Roseate chick on Maidens, June 2008 04 September 2008 Despite the weather, 2008 was a success with two Roseate chicks fledged. An Arctic Tern actually nested successfully in one of the nest boxes, usually something that only Roseates do. Sadly this year the island got hammered by the weather, not just gales but torrential rain which washed the eggs out of the nests of Common and Arctic terns. But once again the nest boxes showed their worth and all the chicks from eggs laid in boxes survived. Thanks to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Heritage Officer Tim Carey for his continuing support of the project. 21 July 2008 A lot of eggs and possibly chicks got washed off on weekend of 5/6th July when we had north easterlies and very heavy rain but Roseates in box survived as did the Arctic eggs in box 4. One, possibly both, Roseates have fledged and there was a tiny chick in the Arctic box on Sunday so wasn't too bad. Unfortunately the three pairs of Arctics nesting on Lamb Island who also survived that weekend subsequently seem to have gone possibly disturbed by goats or humans. - Michael Ryan 27 June 2008 Following the terrible weather of the last two weeks, a brief update from Michael Ryan: That's the Roseate chick, there's another egg in that clutch which hopefully will have hatched. A Common Tern hatched as well and two more eggs in that clutch. There's a few more clutches over there but sadly loads of eggs and probably chicks lost in last weekends' rain and winds. There's an Arctic Tern nesting in one of the boxes now, one egg laid which is interesting. 03 June 2008 This year as the weeks of May passed and there wasn’t any sign of birds arriving we were getting fairly pessimistic. We had taken out nestboxes and spread gravel around. Then those summer storms came again and the rock got battered by high seas. A lot of the boxes got knocked out of place and we didn’t have a opportunity to go out to readjust them. Was this the end of the project, washed away by the storms that were becoming increasingly more common in what should have been midsummer. The only terns around were Sandwich Terns which would soon be heading west to nest. Herring gulls were roosting on Maidens Rock in the evening which was a bad sign, the terns wouldn’t nest while they were on the rock. The last few evenings in May came and went and I was fairly certain at this stage we weren’t going to have any terns nesting. Dropped down on Sunday 1st June and as we got out of the car I thought I could hear terns calling. I had, they were back. Over 30 terns sitting on Maiden’s Rock, many mating, some looking like they were already nesting and in the middle of them a glorious Roseate Tern standing outside one of the surviving nestboxes. Not just standing beside it, it was going in to it and sitting, evidently planning on laying eggs there. One solitary pair of Arctic terns were trying to nest on Lamb Island valiantly dive bombing the goats which had fled to that outcrop to escape the daytrippers. On Bank Holiday Monday the pair of Roseates were in the box and the rest of the rock was buzzing with activity, Common Terns and a few Arctic Terns were courting, males presenting sand eels to the females. Others were mating and some sitting, presumably on eggs. Once they arrived they hadn’t wasted any time. We hope to get over again soon to straighten up nestboxes and count clutches, staying a minimum of time to reduce disturbance. - Michael Ryan 2007 - Dalkey Islands Tern Project Worst ever year for Dalkey Terns Our Dalkey Tern Project started off late, then ended abruptly and disastrously. The birds hadn’t nested at their usual time during May and we were worried that enough sand eels weren’t available. Over thirty five nestboxes, a few hundredweight of gravel and four decoy terns shipped from the US sat unused on the rock. But then there was cause for some optimism in mid June. Some Common Terns began to nest on the rock and though numbers were well down on previous years it looked like we’d at least have some birds breeding. Unfortunately though, the treacherous weather that is becoming normal for our summers was to play its part. Later that week the weather forecast warned we were in for the worst possible conditions for the birds. Strong north easterly winds were forecast combined with a new moon which would create very high spring tides. I went down on Thursday evening and though the sea was crashing against the rock the birds were still there resolutely sitting on nests as their partners flew in to feed them sand eels. I was hopeful they might survive. But next day I got a call from Stephen Newton who coordinates all the Tern breeding projects in Ireland to say that the Little Tern colony on the beach at Kilcoole in Co.Wicklow had been washed out by the high seas with many chicks and eggs lost. Our terns in Dalkey are subject to the same bad weather conditions as the Little Tern colony in Wicklow and unfortunately so it turned out to be when I went down to look the following day. Although I’d seen rougher seas there was a huge swell and the sea was just completely washing over the rock. No birds left and 25 nestboxes washed off as well as three of our four decoy terns. The only small compensation was since the birds had only been nesting a week it would only be eggs that would have been washed away, not tern chicks. Very disappointing for all involved since we’d begun the project in 1995. Over the years we’d managed to double the number of breeding Common and Arctic Terns through providing nestboxes for the chicks to shelter and gravel for the birds to use as a nest base. We’d taken over rocks, bricks and paving slabs to weigh down the boxes and in earlier years we’d manhandled a generator on to the rocks from a small boat bobbing on a swelling tide to power drills to fix boxes on to the rock. We’d never given up hope of getting Roseate Terns to nest there but were happy to see the other tern species returning and breeding every year. Therefore it was a cause of great excitement when in 2003 we had five pairs of Roseates arrive on the rock, nest and breed there. The following year the number of Roseates was up to 11 pairs though bad weather set them back slightly. In the last couple of years Roseate numbers had dropped back down to single figures but we hoped maybe the birds that had been born there might come back to their birthplace to nest themselves when they had reached breeding age. We had sent off to the US in Spring for four purpose-built Roseate decoys with the hope of attracting more Roseates back again. Although all but one decoy were washed off Stephen subsequently found one at low tide. The first year since the project began we didn’t have any birds nesting on the rock in Dalkey was mitigated in a small way by overall tern numbers being up in Dublin Port and on Rockabill. We’ll be meeting various concerned people to give serious thought to how the project should go in the future. - Michael Ryan 2006 - Dalkey Islands Tern Project The terns breeding on Maiden Rock off Dalkey had a rather mixed breeding season in 2006. Overall, the numbers of terns breeding on Maiden Rock were slightly down on last year and only one pair of Roseate Terns bred this year compared to two pairs in 2005. The Roseates successfully raised two chicks and will hopefully return next year. It is most encouraging that this threatened species continues to maintain a breeding toehold in Dalkey. They were first encouraged to nest on the island in 2003, thanks to the provision of special nestboxes and over a decade of conservation work by the South Dublin Branch of BirdWatch Ireland at the site. Around 50 nests of Common and Arctic Terns, the other two tern species breeding on Maiden Rock, were recorded. These managed to raise around 30 chicks, down slightly on recent totals mainly due to poor weather just as the chicks were hatching. Unlike previous years when fierce North Easterly storms in June and July washed over the rock destroying nests and washing away helpless chicks, this year's damage was caused by heavy rain which saturated and washed away eggs. A few weeks later and newly hatched chicks could have sheltered in the nestboxes but such is nature. Many thanks to Dun Laoghaire - Rathdown County Council for all the help and support that they provided to the project this season, as well as to Mackey's Garden Centre, the boatmen and women of Coliemore and Bullock Harbours and to our dedicated branch volunteers. Stephen McAvoy, Dalkey Tern Project Warden September 2006 First pass at setting out the boxes .. 15.05.2005 Stephen Newton ringing Tern chicks .. 22.07.2005 2005 - Dalkey Islands Tern Project The terns were already gathering overhead on Sunday afternoon (15/05) when Michael Ryan, Tom Kealy, Brian Gormley and Niall Hatch brought over the last of the nest boxes to Maiden's Rock in Aiden's boat. Some boxes had already been put in place but the strong easterly tides of the previous week had swept many of them to the edge of the rock. This Sunday was the first decent day all week so even though some of us had been up at 2.30am for the Dawn Chorus in Marlay Park the forecast for the rest of the week was bad and we felt this could be our only opportunity. We brought over more boulders and slabs to hold down the boxes and more gravel, two and a half cwt in total courtesy of Mackeys Garden Centre, to spread in and around the boxes as a nesting enticement for the terns. The Parks Department of DLR council had previously laid some flat concrete pads to hold the boxes and Michael Murphy and Freddie Quinn had constructed many new MkII nest boxes with extended wooden floors to take the securing slabs and small thresholds to keep the gravel inside. Jimmy Noonan and Tom Kealy supplied many MkI nest boxes. There are now 54 boxes on the island. The boxes were numbered to be visible from the land and, thanks to funding from DLRCoCo and the Heritage Council, the islands will have Eugene Archer to warden during the breeding season. In subsequent days Common and Arctic Terns inspected the nest boxes and on a recent evening at least sixteen Roseates prospected the rock. The Roseates are later nesters, so we expect some exciting developments in the next week or two. B.G. 24/05/2005 Two pair of Roseates subsequently settled and hatched two chicks each. The Dalkey tern colony also had 79 Common and Arctic nests, mainly the former. 2004 - Mixed Fortunes for Dalkey Terns Our tern Project in Dalkey entered it's 9th year in 2004. This year the season began hopefully with ten pairs of Roseates nesting among the Arctic and Common; a literal doubling of breeding pairs from the previous year. Unfortunately two unseasonal storms this summer had north east winds bringing crashing seas over Maiden's Rock in June. Watching the waves crashing against the coast at Dalkey I feared the young birds and eggs not to mention the nestboxes couldn't possibly survive. So it was much to our surprise when we saw the majority of Roseates nesting in boxes survived due. we reckoned, to the security of the boxes protecting them from the elements. The boxes are weighed down with cement blocks and paving stones which have to be brought over to the rock from the mainland. One encouraging result from this year was the knowledge that birds can survive a degree of bad weather if their boxes are secured properly so for future years we're contemplating taking out cement and fixing boxes by drilling and bolting them into the rock. One worrying development happened late in July when all the remaining colony of birds deserted the rock apart from two pairs of birds which were nesting on the left side of the rock. This desertion was unprecedented in the nine years of the project and there was a strong suspicion that the birds might have been disturbed by human presence. Although it was recorded in the past that eggs had been vandalised on the rock we hadn't had any problems with people before but there is always the possibility that someone may land either to fish from the rock or just out of curiosity. Whether any malice is intended, sustained disturbance can cause the birds to desert the colony since they know if the young birds can't be fed within a certain time they won't survive anyway and move off. Last year there was almost twenty pairs of terns nesting on Lamb Island until the June Bank Holiday weekend when they completely deserted, didn't attempt to nest again on Lamb and moved to Maiden's Rock. That weekend most of the members of the South Dublin Branch of BirdWatch Ireland were on a outing to Wales so nobody was around to monitor the birds. I've no doubt they were disturbed by people as there were obvious signs of human presence on the island and good weather, as it was on that weekend, always brings more people over to the main island from where they can get access to Lamb at low tide. For the future we've applied to DLR council to put signs on both Maidens Rock and Lamb Island stating it is an important breeding area for ground nesting birds and shouldn't be disturbed between May and September and on Dalkey Island itself forbidding people from bringing dogs on to the main island and stating their designation as important conservation areas. - Michael Ryan from FlightLines, the newsletter of the South Dublin Branch, September 2004. 2003 Success! After many years of effort to encourage Roseates to nest on Maidens, this was to be the year. Five nest boxes were occupied by Roseates and six chicks fledged. After the loss of Roseate eggs to "collectors" at Lady's Island this year, it was necessary to keep the news under wraps until the birds had flown. New Roseate Tern Colony in County Dublin Michael Ryan, FlightLines September 2003 The South Dublin Branch was delighted this summer when five pairs of Roseate Terns decided to join the breeding colony of Common and Arctic terns on Maiden's Rock near Dalkey Island where the branch has been putting out nest boxes and monitoring the birds for the last eight years. This year was the eight year of the South Dublin Branch Dalkey Tern Project. In 1995 we started leaving out nestboxes on the outcrop of rock known as Maiden's Rock ofT Dalkey Island. A small colony of Common and Arctic terns had been nesting on the rock with various degrees of success over the years and we thought we might make the rock more attractive for nesting birds. The project has evolved over the years through trial and not much error. Initially we used take out a generator and screw the boxes into the bare rock. Getting a generator out of a boat and up slippy rocks could be quite an adventure and we found the boxes would get washed off the rocks during winter storms so they had to be replaced the following year anyway. We originally took out nest boxes in the hope that we might attract Roseate terns, the very rare species that breeds further up the coast on Rockabill and though we got no Roseates we found that Common and Arctic tern chicks would wander into the boxes for shelter where their parents would feed them behaviour not previously associated with these species. Many thanks to all the branch members and volunteers who have helped build nest boxes, and all who took turns monitoring the colony and showing birds to the public over the years. Also our thanks to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for all their help and support over the years and thanks too to the boatmen and boatwomen of Dalkey. Paintings by Robert Vaughan And, oh yes of course, thanks to Dun Laoghaire Inshore Lifeboat (it's a long story) and the well meaning folk on the shore who called them. - Michael Ryan. The background. South Dublin Branch have been taking an active interest in the small colony of terns that breed on rocks off Dalkey Island since summer 1995. The original initiative came from BirdWatch HQ and it was hoped Roseate Terns might be encouraged to breed among the Common and Arctic terns that nest on the outcrop of rock known as Maidens Rock (or Corrig). Branch volunteers took out nestboxes to Maidens and for the first few years we also took out a mobile generator and drills and bolted the boxes on to the rock. A warden was provided to monitor the birds for the first three years, paid for by InterReg funding and a high profile public presence was put on daily with display boards, leaflets and telescopes to show the birds to the public. Although often displaying interest in nest boxes early in the season no Roseates nested on Maidens Rock but the Common and Arctic terns generally had good breeding success and we found some common terns were using the boxes and other chicks moved into them as soon as they could walk keeping them safer from predators and the elements. The InterReg funding paid for a warden for three years after which the public display and monitoring continued by South Dublin Branch volunteers. Although generally safe from human disturbance and predators the birds on Maidens did have one major problem to contend with. In the past we were accostomed to summers being a time of warm days and blue skies but of recent years, possibly as a result of global warming, we have became used to summer, particularly early summer being a time of rain, low temperatures and often high winds and storms. And sadly these storms devestated the tern's breeding colony on Maidens on a couple of occasions. After going out and ringing and weighing the tiny chicks it was heartbreaking to see the north easterly winds bringing crashing waves over the rock wiping off boxes and chicks. One result of these storms was that some of the birds, predominatley Arctic terns, moved over to Lamb Island the large outcrop which is joined to Dalkey Island until cut off at high tide. In other years usually one or two pairs of birds tried to nest there with mixed results, safe from the seas but in danger from rats and the goats that have been on the island for many years. No malice intended from the goats but they cause great consternation among the birds when they wander among the nests feeding off the sparse vegetation possibly crushing eggs or chicks. The birds colonising this area prompted a new plan from Head Office to fence off some of Lamb Island, put out tape lures and decoy birds and hopefully attract Roseates to nest in the enclosed area. Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Parks Department offered us help and the labour to construct the fenced area. Branch members made the nest boxes and Tom Kealy made decoy terns from decoy Magpies which he got from a sports shop, repainting them and modifying their tails so they bore near enough resemblance to terns that they might attract a passing bird.