I was lucky enough to be invited to ring and colour flag young Sandwich Terns at Cemlyn Lagoon recently as part of an ongoing project in conjunction with the North Wales Wildlife Trust who lease the site from the National Trust. This was the first visit since Covid began!
Bird Flu is currently devastating many of our seabird colonies but it's also vitally important we continue monitoring those areas as yet unaffected as the data we can get back on survival rates will help build a picture of how populations have suffered. We are usually restricted to 45 minutes in the colony to avoid too much disturbance but this year extra precautions were taken. All footwear and equipment had to be treated with a Defra approved disinfectant before we entered the colony and again on leaving.
In the 45 minutes time we had we managed to ring 123 Sandwich Tern chicks and flag 121. Hopefully these young birds will fledge safely and spend a couple of years sunning themselves on South African beaches before returning to the northern hemisphere to breed.
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