Protecting Ireland’s smallest tern

Little Terns have nested on the shingle beach at Kilcoole for over 100 years. The Kilcoole Little Tern protection Scheme has been ongoing for the last 34 years. The nesting terns usually occupy a small strip of shingle beach at “the Breaches”, midway between Kilcoole and Newcastle railway stations.  Special measures need to be implemented to prevent disturbance and trampling on the very well camouflaged tern nests, including erecting mesh fencing around the colony to keep out people and dogs, as well as electric fencing to keep out foxes, and other mammals, at night.

Success at Kilcoole

The Little Tern colony at Kilcoole has grown from less than 20 nesting pairs in the 1980’s, to 216 pairs in 2021. Females lay 1-3 eggs in a slight depression (‘scrape’), which they incubate for 3 weeks.Rapid growth enables the young to take their first flights at between 2 and 3 weeks old, although they remain dependent on their parents for food.

A variety of predators do manage to take eggs and young: Red Foxes, Hooded Crows and Kestrels are perhaps the top three trouble-makers but each pair usually rears between 1 and 2 young in most years. Occasionally the colony may totally fail and this is most often due to spring tides and easterly winds.