Between now and Tuesday there will be spring tides.  We have 6 more eggs to hatch though a nest with 1 egg seems to have been abandoned, so that brings it down to 5 eggs in 3 nests. An egg has already hatched today in 1 of these nests so I expect another hatching tomorrow or Saturday at the latest and that will leave just 2 nests.   As far as I can see there are no particularly strong winds forecast so with a bit of luck we can get these last eggs hatched safely.

The tally now stands at 27 chicks (17 of those fully fledged) and 5 eggs  -  and so the volunteer wardening goes on for another couple of weeks until we get the youngest chicks to a stage where they can fly well enough to be reasonably safe from predators.  Full marks to the volunteers who are keeping this project going!

A total of 27 eggs have hatched and of that we have 26 at varying stages of fledging.  There are only 6 chicks that are still very vulnerable, we also have 7 eggs yet to hatch.  The volunteers are magnificent, when any have been asked about carrying on for another couple of weeks, all have indicated that they are in complete agreement. 

The days are drawing in so that means that we can start a little later and finish a bit earlier.  That means starting at about 5.30 am and finishing about 9.30 pm.  This morning there were confrontations between the Little Terns and Sandwich Terns when Tommy was out.  We have not seen this behaviour before, the weather was bad with rain and wind and a full tide. 

Another nest with 1 egg has hatched and there are more hatchings imminent.  The latest hatching is at the southern end of the nesting enclosure while the previous ones are at the northern end!  It's quite a walk from one end to the other, so we will continue to concentrate on the northern end as it is more vulnerable at the moment particularly with people walking and dogs off their leads. 

The chick count is now 25 with 17 fully fledged and 4 flying well, they are within a week of fledging. 

The Peregrine has been seen a number of times patrolling the beach, it seems to be a juvenile.

As I left the beach last night around 6.30pm and went to the car, a flock of Swallows and Swifts were swarming around that area.  Both Andrew (who was taking over from me) and myself stood for almost half an hour watching their aeriel acrobatics.  They flew so close to us it was fantastic, they really put on a wonderful display for us, it was a truly magical moment.  I think that Andrew should have got a few good photos, though they were difficult to capture on camera.  I did however, get a photo of a Stonechat perched on the aeriel of my car. 

We are seeing a juvenile Cuckoo in Baltray, it is a strange sight hanging out with its tiny parent which I think is a meadow pipit.  I haven't managed to get a photo of them yet!

Terry Flanagan from the Mooney RTE radio show was in Baltray the other day which coincided with Eric O'Neill taking photos for the Drogheda Leader newspaper. 

As we had a nest hatching and 1 chick had hatched the previous day, Terry and Eric looked on as we checked the nest.   The second egg had not yet hatched and as the nest was just a short way out, we snatched some photos of the chick and egg.  Terry spent a couple of hours with us and was very interested in the project.  He  then recorded an interview with Sandra which will be broadcast on the Mooney show in a few weeks time (date to be confirmed).

When the photo was blown up on the computer screen, imagine our surprise and delight to see that the egg was clearly hatching.

We now have 24 chicks and 9 eggs.  The new chicks are at the northern end of the nesting enclosure towards the sea so we are concentrating on that area as it is closest to the Termonfeckin side where people with dogs enter and leave the beach.  These chicks are so small that they could not evade a dog if it ran up on the outside of the enclosure. 

On Friday morning a peregrine falcon flew out over the nesting enclosure just where the new chicks are.  Luckily I was close to that area and ran out shouting and generally making a racket.  The bird then continued out to the water edge and made numerous attempts to grab its breakfast.  It had no success and continued on towards Mornington.

Have to run, Eamonn's waiting for me to take over in Baltray, might put on a few more photos later if I get a chance.

2 chicks hatched today bringing the total number of chicks up to 22.  Most of the chicks now spending their time out close to the water edge with 7 fully fledged, 9 within a week of being fully fledged, 4 able to fly but will need another couple of weeks before fledging and the 2 new chicks.

Chicks flying all over the place now.  The youngest chicks are 10 days old and can fly short distances.  This gives them a much greater chance of avoiding predators.  The next hatchings should happen at the end of this coming week and should continue into early August.

RTE News at Baltray.
RTE Environment Correspondent Paul Cunningham came out to Baltray yesterday afternoon and filmed the Little Terns.  He interviewed Sandra McKeever who is the Co-ordinator of the Little Tern Conservation Project and Chairperson of Louth Nature Trust, he also interviewed Breffni Martin (director of Louth Nature Trust) and Kieran Buckley (Louth Ranger with National Parks and Wildlife Service).  Luckily we had no rain though it was quite blustery.  Paul spent a couple of hours with us, patiently waiting for Little Terns to perform so that he could get good footage for his report.

We were delighted to hear that it was going out today, Sunday on both the 6 o'clock news and the 9 o'clock news.  We are very pleased with the report and extend a big thank you to Paul Cunningham and RTE.  Also thanks to Kieran Buckley who travelled up and spent his Saturday afternoon with us to facilitate the interview.

Chicks seem to be doing well.  They of course have moved outside the enclosure towards the sea once they are around a week old but move back when there is a high tide or when darkness falls.  It makes counting difficult so the best time to do this is when the tide is in. 
Still courtship going on but no new nests in the last day or two (thank goodness), perhaps they are practising for next year!

The chicks from nest 1 have now fledged and spend their time out with the other birds at the water edge.  Quite a few of the chicks can fly at this stage.  We have 4 chicks that are very young and they are being brooded by the parents.  There is still the odd new nest, the latest being yesterday with 2 eggs.  At this rate, we'll be there till Christmas!! The next eggs due to hatch will be towards the end of the month.  Judging from the chick monitoring, looks like all are doing ok. 

The chick count has gone up to 21 with the hatching of nests 35 and 36.  Nest 36 had been washed over by the spring tide on Saturday night.  The eggs were moved to the right of the original nest and the parent was sitting on the eggs the next morning.  They were in the middle of seaweed so we cleared that away and the parent continued to incubate the eggs.  Worried that the sea might have chilled them, we did not hold out much hope of the eggs hatching, so we are delighted that both chicks hatched ok.  See photo taken yesterday when 1 of the chicks had hatched.



The order of Malta made a scarecrow for us and it (Rambo) is a fearsome sight on the beach.  They made a great job of it, a big thank you to all concerned. 

The overnight spring tides were not as damaging as Saturday nights.  They are receding now, so that's a relief.  Lots of frenetic Little Tern activity so we may have new nests, even at this late stage!

The Benefit Gig in the Spirit Store last night was a blast  -  really fantastic music, what a great night!  Hope everybody enjoyed it, but from the applause and vocal appreciation, the audience clearly loved every minute of it.  Some photos below.  Full marks to Cathal who organised it, well done.

The spring tides overnight were much more damaging than yesterday.  The water came way into the nesting enclosure causing more nest losses.  The electric fencing was down on the east side though Maurice has most of it back up this morning.  We will go out after the high tide today to ensure that all the fencing is working ok. 

We lost 5 nests last night and one of the nests (number 36) is still there, though the eggs were moved by the tide.  The Tern is sitting on the eggs, though they may not hatch if she was off the nest for any length of time during the night.

We didn't expect this damage last night, it's so frustrating because we are powerless to stop this type of damage. 

We lost 7 nests with 9 eggs in the overnight spring tides.  The tide today at 2pm was again very high, but did not cause nearly as much damage as the overnight tides.  It's important that we don't have stormy weather over the next couple of days while the spring tides remain.

Found 3 new nests today with 4 eggs and expect to find some more new nests over the next few days. 

The count at the moment is 17 chicks and 8 nests with 12 eggs.

The Little Terns are ferociously protective of the chicks and will fly at anyone who walks even 50 metres away from the nesting area where the chicks are.  Didn't have time to do a full chick count, but did see a number of them, so all indications are that they are ok. 

There are spring tides this week and last night, tonight and tomorrow night are the highest of these tides.  With the winds last night, the tide came into the enclosure, damaging the fencing and it has washed away some nests.  The area closest to the river was worst affected.  We are doing repairs at the moment and will give a round up of losses later today. 

On the bright side, we have had more new nests and birds continue to lay eggs.  Our chicks are doing fine, see photo of one of our oldest chick, it is at juvenile stage now and is able to fly quite well, though it still depends on it's parents for food.

The latest count at Baltray is 15 chicks, with 10 eggs waiting to hatch.  No new nests yet. 

Only 1 chick hatched in a nest with 2 eggs, with the other egg is now abandoned.  It was probably infertile.  The parent kept the chick in the nest with the egg for several days before finally abandoning the unhatched egg.

Our only nest with 3 eggs has finally hatched, taking a few days for all 3 to hatch.  Photo below.

A reminder to everyone - the Little Tern Benefit Concert is on in the Spirit Store this Sunday (6th July).  We desperately need funds so all support will be much appreciated.