Tern Breeding Platform on Lough Beg

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1 Tern Breeding Platform on Lough Beg From 19 th to 21 st May, 2008, volunteers from Ballymena Birdwatchers Club were instrumental in constructing and launching a 64m2 floating raft onto Lough Beg in County Antrim. The raft has been specifically designed by Kames Floating Structures as an ideal nesting structure for Common Terns (Sterna hirundo). Ballymena Birdwatchers Club could not have completed this project without the support of its two primary funding bodies Better Belfast and Lough Neagh Partnership. The seeds of this project were planted in the minds of the Committee of Ballymena Birdwatchers Club as early as September 2005 when contact was made with Seamus Burns who works for Lough Neagh and Lough Beg Advisory Committees. Seamus suggested that the Club could potentially draw funds from Lough Neagh Partnership if a suitable project could be designed. After several subsequent meetings, an idea for a floating tern raft was launched (excuse the pun!) as this would compliment a smaller raft proposed for Portmore Lough by RSPB. With its Outreach Programme a series of indoor lectures and outdoor guided excursions Ballymena Birdwatchers Club introduces local communities to the wider environment and the beauty of surrounding bird life. Increasingly, the Club has concentrated on educating the wider community and Club Members about the pressures being faced by nature and highlighting serious problems such as the decline in breeding seabirds and most recently the disease which is striking common garden birds. Tackling Climate Change is high on its agenda. Support from Better Belfast has allowed the Club, for the first time, to supply birdwatching equipment to give excursion participants the opportunity to experience the nature of Northern Ireland, such as the terns of Lough Neagh and Lough Beg, at its best.

2 Often, participants are from the deprived communities of County Antrim, including those within Antrim Borough Council and Ballymena Borough Council. Not only does Ballymena Birdwatchers Club provide guided access to the countryside for disadvantaged urban dwellers, but now participants have a chance to share optical equipment like Telescopes and Binoculars which enhances their experience and imparts a truly lasting impression. It is the Club s belief that respect for nature and the environment is fostered best by showcasing the best that our indigenous countryside has to offer. Prior to the project commencing, a survey was undertaken by three members of Ballymena Birdwatchers Club Jonathan Buick, Jeff Larkin and Dave Richards on 15 th July The purpose of this survey was to confirm beyond doubt that Common Terns are present and feeding in Lough Beg but that no breeding sites are located in the area surveyed. In a one hour period, we were encouraged to record 14 Common Terns feeding in the Lough and flying off in the direction of Lough Neagh, indicating, as we suspected, that they are occurring and feeding in the area but not breeding. Several of the terns were spotted carrying small fish back to breeding sites in Lough Neagh. All of this confirmed the importance of providing a suitable breeding site in Lough Beg which appears to be an ideal foraging habitat in an attempt to further stabilise the breeding population of the species. Photographed surveying Lough Beg in Antrim Borough Council are, from left to right: Jonathan Buick, Chairman, Dave Richards, Committee Member, Jeff Larkin, Committee Member.

3 After a tender process, the successful supplier of the tern raft was Kames Floating Structures, a division of Kames Fish Farming Equipment from Kilmelford, near Oban in Scotland. This company had experience of installing identical tern rafts in the Thames River and could offer better value for money in terms of the area of decking supplied. Delivery of the tern raft took place on 19 th May 2008 as Jonathan Buick and Seamus Burns met Peter Richardson and his colleague from Kames Floating Structures onsite. Delivery of two tonnes of Irish Beach Pebbles was also accepted on Monday 19 th May from Norman Emerson, Ltd. Seamus Burns, on the right, in front of the tern raft as it arrives in kit form.

4 With funding from Better Belfast, telescopes and binoculars were also provided for use by Club Members. These were available for use on 20 th and 21 st May during the installation and were instrumental in watching for Common Terns during the entire process.

5 A further piece of the installation process came from P. Keenan in the form of an allterrain telescoping forklift and the very capable operative Clifford who was more than happy to get stuck in with the team of volunteers from Ballymena Birdwatchers Club and the two project managers from Kames Floating Structures.

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11 Day 3, the 21 st of May 2008, saw the completion of the construction of the tern raft and saw Ballymena Birdwatchers Club and Seamus Burns from Lough Neagh and Lough Beg Advisory Committees calling a number of key contacts to secure a boat to launch the raft and obtain some ridge tiles to provide cover for terns on the raft. The latter were kindly donated by Northstone Ltd, located only a few miles away. The boat was a trickier matter because, while some members of the Club offered the use of their own boats, these turned out to be too large to navigate the small entrance to the pondage chosen as the site of the tern raft, within Antrim Borough Council. After a frantic period, colleagues in the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) based at Peatlands Park, came up with the goods and arrived with a perfect solution just in time. Northstone Ltd ridge tiles donated to Ballymena Birdwatchers Club for the tern raft:

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13 NIEA providing the much-needed boat:

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17 Photograph below taken through telescope provided with Better Belfast support.

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19 The tern raft has now been in place since 21 st May 2008, over three months as of the end of August On Wednesday 9 th July 2008 the final payment from Ballymena Birdwatchers Club associated with the Tern Raft was made. This was for the hire of the all-terrain forklift which was supplied from P. Keenan Quarry, Knockloughrim. So thanks are due to everyone who has been involved in this project and Ballymena Birdwatchers Club extends special thanks funders Antrim Borough Council with Better Belfast and EU Building Sustainable Prosperity Programme with DARD and Lough Neagh Partnership. This project could not have been completed without the assistance of Seamus Burns to whom special thanks are due. However, on 9 th July, on the way back from P. Keenan s quarry, Jonathan Buick called in to the tern raft location to see if there was any activity and he spotted three Common Terns on the raft! Two flew off but one remained and appeared to be sitting on a nest. This evidence of breeding was confirmed by Seamus Burns the following day (Thursday). He visited the raft that morning and again saw the Common Tern crouched as if on eggs. It was then visited by another tern presumably its partner which brought fish to feed the sitting bird. Another Common Tern also alighted on the raft. Once again, three terns.

20 This is great news for the Ballymena Birdwatchers Club and we can be proud that we have been instrumental in establishing a new breeding colony of Common Terns in Northern Ireland, and the first recorded breeding of Common Terns in Lough Beg for many years. Well done and let s hope our pair of terns are successful in fledging their chicks and a successful migration to West Africa in the Autumn. Ballymena Birdwatchers Club will be maintaining their new breeding platform over the winter in hopeful anticipation of an even more successful breeding season in 2009.