Shorebirds at Gibraltar Point

Hello and welcome to the Gibraltar Point NNR Shorebird page- to be used by the shorebird team here to keep you all updated on all the goings on in the sanctuary and around the beach area during the breeding bird season. 📸: @samgod96 🧵 1/6

@Ianlyall9 @LWTWildNews @LincsWildlife @Lincsbirding @gibpoint Many thanks, Ian

@TedsTerns @LWTWildNews @LincsWildlife @Lincsbirding @gibpoint Great work by all concerned

With the season now almost at an end, the sanctuary has fledged 25 ringed plovers, 23 little terns and at least 3 oystercatchers! A great year, with at least 12 more fledged ringed plovers from the Greenshanks Creek area of the reserve.

There’s definitely an ‘end of season’ feeling in the air now, but still a few of our birds yet to fledge. Lovely views of two 8 day old ringed plover chicks this morning, feeding out on the mudflats. The remaining little tern chicks are starting to flap their wings- not long now!

It’s been an absolute pleasure to witness each of our now EIGHTEEN (18!) little tern juveniles fledging, flying and fetching their own food. Our latest one fledged just this morning, hot on the heels of the last two. We have up to 6 chicks left to go, so here’s hoping! 🤞🏻

How the tides Tern! Stunning yet dramatic views of Arctic Skuas harassing the colony this morning. With the sandwich terns lazing around, it took our little terns to see them off! Amazing to witness and a visual display of spirit from the colony (and our team) this season!

This little tern chick is *particularly* special, as it is the last one to hatch! We’ve now had 15 fledge, 2 due to fledge in the next couple of days, and 6 chicks still on the ground! This one serves as a stark reminder of just how precious and vulnerable they are.

A small flurry of activity this week with the last little tern nests beginning to hatch- fresh chicks a couple of days ago and another nest starting to hatch this morning! We’ve also confirmed a minimum of 15 fledged juveniles!! ✈️

Over 60 adult little terns, up to 12 fledged juveniles, 12 young ringed plovers of varying ages and an oystercatcher family of 5 all doing well yesterday- and even a new little tern nest found! An amazing spectacle currently, especially at high tides.

A minimum of 8 fledged little tern chicks in the sanctuary now represents a good season here, with more suspected in the ground, and still a few nests left to hatch! The fledged birds are very vocal as the parents tirelessly bring them food to help them grow.

The news we’ve have been waiting for this morning, our first little terns have fledged their nest and are now strongly flying around the sanctuary. Amazing to think this chick is now capable of flying just 23 days after hatching! 🐥✈️

Today could be a landmark day, as our first little terns that hatched are due to be fledging. A short trip into the sanctuary this morning provided great views of two well grown chicks, exceptionally well camouflaged in their habitat. 🐤

An exciting arrival this morning as our famous Oystercatcher platform hatched its three chicks! A feel good moment for the staff who built, shingled and scraped the sand in the box to make it suitable for nesting. Here’s hoping they make it to adulthood! 🤞🏻

Numbers of little terns have increased in the colony recently, with a minimum of 30 adults being seen daily in the sanctuary. Our earliest chicks are getting very close to fledging- the two oldest chicks are wing flapping! Hopefully more updates in the next few days!

After a bit of a lull, a rather insane flurry of 4 little tern nests were found within 12 hours of each other by the shorebird warden. This leaves us at a whopping 13 nests responsible for up to 32 eggs/chicks, and possibly due more. It’s shaping up to be quite the season! 🪺

Camera traps provide such incredible insight into the day to day goings on of our shorebirds. Here, a little tern feeds its chick whilst the other incubates the remaining eggs, which hatched in the subsequent days 🐥

Possibly for the first time ever at Gib, we’ve captured oystercatcher chicks on the trail camera. Here, the freshly hatched chicks fend off an adult ringed plover during the cover of darkness. Small but mighty! 😤

De ja vu in the sanctuary today, with another little tern nest hatching, meaning 6 nests have now hatched, with 17 chicks! The adults don’t take too kindly to perceived threats to their chicks, as our shorebird warden found out today! 😬

Almost unbelievably, another TWO little tern nests were hatching this morning, meaning we now have up to 14 little ones running around the sanctuary! We still have four nests ongoing, and more terns mating, in what looks to be a bumper year for them.

With night cover now underway, we’re seeing more activity around the sanctuary. This morning was no exception, with another TWO of our little tern nests hatching overnight. We now have at least 7 chicks on the ground! 🐣

Whilst the little tern chicks (first pic) have hatched, they weren’t the only arrivals over the weekend! We were also treated to the first oystercatchers of the season (second pic) and some more ringed plovers (third pic). Here’s hoping they survive to fledge 🤞🏻🤞🏻