Seabirds Suffering
29th June 2007, FridayIt is not good news about the nesting seabirds at Rye Harbour. The continuing wet, cold and windy weather has taken a great toll on the small fluffy chicks of the terns and the gulls. Feeding has been difficult with stormy seas, so the chicks get hungry and weak and don’t hide when danger threatens. The adults spend more time away feeding, so cannot collectively repel threats, which come in the form of Herring Gulls and Kestrel. Today I was watching the last of 2 Common Tern chicks close to the webcam, next to the base of the wooden post… the adult flew up and the chick stayed in the open, then down came 2 bright yellow legs and took the tiny chick away… a tasty snack for a hungry Kestrel, probably with it’s own hungry chicks to feed.
There some bigger chicks of Sandwich and Common Terns and Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls surviving at Ternery Pool, but not the number expected from the thousands of nesting pairs. However, it looks like total failure for the 16 pairs of Little Tern. It is a good job that the adults live for many years to try and replace themselves.