Bird reserve has largest fledge of 'Beatle' chicks

RSPB Minsmere recorded at least 205 Sandwich tern chicks during this year's breeding season

A nature reserve has recorded its largest number of fledglings of a threatened bird species in half a century.

RSPB Minsmere, on the Suffolk coast, counted at least 205 sandwich terns chicks this summer - the most at the site since 1974.

Senior site manager Nick Forster said that during the breeding season the birds had a "striking head plumage" which he felt made "them look like they've got Beatle haircuts".

He added the team had worked to improve water habitats over the past three years leading to this "boom".

Sandwich terns were close to extinction in the 19th Century due to hunting for the hat trade and the collection of their eggs for food

"We've had sandwich terns breeding most years, but never since 1974 with this level of success at 296 pairs of adults nesting and they raised 205 fledged chicks," he explained.

"We haven't at the moment, but at one time we had 800 sandwich terns visible on The Scrape [the reserve's shallow lagoons] which is a fantastic wildlife spectacle."

Nick Forster said the birds were very loud when predators were nearby

Sandwich terns are classed as a vulnerable species in the UK due to declines in population numbers and because they breed at only a few sites.

Mr Forster said the team had put anti-predatory fences around parts of RSPB Minsmere to keep out foxes and badgers and they had reprofiled some of the artificial islands and resurfaced others.

"It must have been a very good fishing year offshore to get that number of chicks to fledging," he continued.

"In comparison to last year, we had a similar number of adults and they didn't fledge any chicks."

Artificial islands have been reprofiled and resurfaced to benefit the birds

The reserve has played host to the BBC's Springwatch nature programme in recent years.

The site is also home to common terns and little terns which are "significantly" smaller than sandwich terns.

"They are really striking," Mr Forster said of the sandwich tern.

"They have very striking head plumage in the breeding season which I think makes them look like they've got Beatle haircuts.

"If you were a sand eel you'd find their beak very threatening - it's a very powerful beak compared to the common tern."