Roseate Tern
| Irish Name: | Geabhróg rósach |
| Scientific name: | Sterna dougallii |
| Bird Family: | Terns |
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Conservation status
Conservation status
Status
Rare summer visitor from April to October, the majority breeding at two sites in the Irish Sea, with another colony in Wexford.
Identification
Only seen over the sea. Slender seabird with narrow, pointed wings, long forked tail and long, pointed bill. Bill all dark with a red base when breeding. Grey above and white below, dark cap to head. Flight light and buoyant, can hover briefly over the sea before diving in, dives in with a distinctive angled powerful dive. A slight, elegant tern which is similar to Common and Arctic Terns. Told apart by flight action, more rapid and shallower wingbeats with shorter wings giving a more direct looking flight. Birds in adult summer plumage are very pale, much paler than other terns, with a faint rosy tinge to the upperparts. Legs are long and bright red. Tail steamers very long. Lacks dark trailing edge to primaries. Winter plumage, like all terns is different from breeding plumage. Adult winter plumage develops white forehead and dark carpal bar. Juvenile birds have bold patterns to upperparts with dark legs and bill. First winter birds similar to adults but with some retained juvenile feathers.
Voice
Calls either quick wader like "kerrick" (not unlike Sandwich Tern) or a deep, harsh "ach".
Diet
Chiefly marine fish.
Breeding
Nest colonially on the ground. Restricted to two main colonies in Ireland, one on the island of Rockabill, off Skerries, Co. Dublin and one at Lady's Island, near Rosslare, in Co. Wexford. Birds have bred at other sites recently, for example on Dalkey Island, Co. Dublin and on the Blasket Islands Co. Kerry. Rockabill holds the most important colony in Europe with up to 1,200 pairs of birds. The colony at Lady's Island is much smaller with around a hundred pairs.
Wintering
Winters in west Africa.
Monitored by
Roseate Terns are monitored annually at their breeding colonies on Rockabill Island and Lady’s Island Lake. Also all-Ireland tern survey in 1995, and through breeding seabird surveys. Breeding seabirds are monitored through breeding seabird surveys carried out every 15-20 years.
Very localised summer distribution, Winters in West Africa. Lady’s Island, near Rosslare, in County Wexford plays host to an important number of birds as does Rockabill Island off Dublin Bay. A small recently established colony exists on Maiden Rock, Dalkey, Co. Dublin.
Blog posts about this bird
New protected area off Wexford coast is a step forward for vulnerable seabirds
The recent announcement of the new “Seas off Wexford” Special Protection Area (SPA) is certainly news to be welcomed.
For such a designation to be as effective as it can be, it is crucial that strong and effective conservation objectives and management plans are ambitious and that stakeholders are consulted throughout the process. It would be most welcome if the designation of new marine SPAs also led to a new vision for management of Ireland’s entire network of SPAs. BirdWatch Ireland calls on government to ensure that management plans are put in place for SPAs on both land and sea and that a whole-of-government approach is taken to implement them properly to safeguard the future of the birds they are intended to protect.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien recently designated the new SPA of marine waters off the coast of Wexford which, at over 305,000 hectares, is the largest SPA designated in the history of the state. These waters provide extremely important food sources for seabirds, including Red-listed species such as Puffin, Kittiwake, Common Scoter and many other vulnerable Amber-listed species such as Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Shag, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Roseate Tern, Red-throated Diver, Gannet, Common Tern, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull and Guillemot.
Kittiwake. Photo: Colum Clarke.
Under EU legislation, the Irish government has made a commitment to designate 10% of its waters as protected by 2025, and a total of 30% by 2030. This new designation increases the percentage of Ireland’s marine protected waters to 9.4%, just under the 2025 target. While this is certainly a step in the right direction, many questions remain, primarily, what will “protection” look like in practice? It is paramount that this is made clear in the soon-to-be-published SPA’s conservation objectives, which should detail the activities that will and will not be permitted in the SPA, among other measures. We look forward to reading them shortly. At the same time, BirdWatch Ireland in collaboration with BirdLife Europe and BirdLife International are mapping Ireland’s marine Important Bird Areas according to international and standardised BirdLife International criteria under a project funded by the Flotilla Foundation. This is an important time for our seabirds and it is welcome to see the government’s focus finally on setting out protected areas for them.
Red-throated Diver. Photo: Chris Gomersall
While the finer details about the Wexford SPA have yet to come to light, it is clear that certain activities will not be permitted in the Wexford SPA. The Minister has issued a Direction in relation to certain activities, which must not be carried out within or close to the SPA, unless consent is lawfully given. The listed activities are reclamation including infilling; blasting, drilling, dredging or otherwise disturbing or removing fossils, rock, minerals, mud, sand, gravel or other sediment; introduction or reintroduction of plants or animals not found in the area; scientific research which involves the removal of biological material; any activity intended to disturb birds; undertaking acoustic surveys in the marine environment and developing or consenting to the development or operation of commercial recreational/ visitor facilities or organised recreational activities.
Little Terns.
Together with our partners at Fair Seas – a coalition of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs and environmental networks of which BirdWatch Ireland is a founding member – we have been calling for the government to meet their targets, but this alone is not enough. More action must be taken in order for us to adequately protect these important marine habitats and the many species that they support. Any move to better protect important habitats for birds is to be welcomed, and this is certainly no different. We are urging the Irish government to be ambitious in their plans for this new SPA and stress the need for focused community engagement in the surrounding areas. We also continue our urgent calls for the publication of the long-awaited Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Bill.
Seabird Census shines light on plight of seabird populations in Ireland and Britain
A newly-published seabird census highlights how conservation management measures can boost tern populations, while also revealing concerning declines in Puffin and Kittiwake populations in Ireland.
Seabirds Count, released as a book by wildlife publishers Lynx Edicions, is the most comprehensive seabird census produced to date, providing population estimates for the regularly breeding species of Britain, Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The census, which ran from 2015 to 2021, covered all of our regularly breeding seabird species, including nocturnal burrow-nesters such as Manx Shearwater, inland and urban-nesting gulls and several rare species. Led by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (UK) with over 20 steering group partners, including BirdWatch Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, who spearheaded efforts to collect and publish the findings in Ireland.
The census results underscore the benefits of focused conservation management work, while also revealing some concerns. Results differ significantly by region or country. However, overall results show that, across the entire UK and Ireland, 11 of the 21 seabird species with comparable data have declined since the last census in 1998-2002.
In Ireland, 17 species have seen population increases, while two – Puffin and Black-legged Kittiwake – have experienced declines.
Puffin. Photo: Brian Burke
Puffins are reliant on sandeels and this crucial food source is in decline in waters off Britain and probably Ireland. This is one of the many potential factors contributing to the species' decline, though more research is needed to get a full picture of what is affecting this iconic bird. The Puffin has declined by 28% in Ireland and is now a Red-listed bird of conservation concern, meaning it is vulnerable to extinction. The Black-legged Kittiwake has declined by 36% in Ireland since the previous census. While Northern Ireland has seen a 33% increase in this species, overall, the species is on the decline. Numbers in the census show an overall decline of 42%, the lowest recorded in any census to date. The main reasons for its decline appear to be the reduction of sandeel availability due to climate change, local predation and extreme weather events. There are encouraging trends in Ireland for species such as terns. This underscores the importance of our tern wardening work with NPWS at key east coast colonies such as Rockabill, Kilcoole and Lady’s Island Lake. However, while the Arctic Tern population is stable in Ireland, at the overall census level, there has been a 35% decline in the Arctic Tern breeding population since the previous survey. Across Britain and Ireland, the census shows that Ireland is particularly important for species such as Roseate Tern as 94% of the total populations breed here.
Roseate Tern. Photo: Brian Burke.
The Roseate Tern populations at Rockabill and Lady’s Island Lake have benefitted from a range of conservation efforts via ongoing NPWS wardening projects, delivered by BirdWatch Ireland. Driven to the brink of extinction due to the use of their feathers for the hat trade during the 19th century, the Roseate Tern population recovered through protective legislation and management. Rockabill holds the vast majority of the northwest European breeding population and, thanks to the ongoing conservation management, numbers have increased by 155% since the last census. However, the Roseate Tern remains one of our rarest seabirds, with an estimated 2,000 pairs confined to a few colonies around these islands, and in 2023 both the Rockabill and Lady’s Island Lake tern colonies were impacted by a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak. An increase in testing, the quicker removal of carcasses after they have been reported and more collaborative action and joined-up thinking between all relevant stakeholders are required if we wish to stem potential devastating effects of avian flu on seabird populations. Ireland is also of importance for European Storm-petrels, with 73% of the census population breeding here. The majority of the European Storm Petrels in Ireland breed in large colonies located off the southwest coast. Numbers from the census appear to show a stable population. Meanwhile, the Black-headed Gull has seen an increase of 84% in Ireland, which is in contrast with overall census-level decline of 26%. While there are certainly reasons for hope, it is clear, to halt and reverse the overall decline in our seabird populations, much more needs to be done to protect these birds and their breeding and foraging areas from the multitude of threats they face.
