New breeding rafts for the common tern

Photo: Jeno Medgyesi

In 2021 we drew attention to the urgent need for new breeding rafts on the east marsh. Used mostly by the visiting common tern in summer months, the existing rafts were well past their sell-by date - dilapidated, semi-capsized on the thick silt and offering little protection. Tern numbers - a celebrated sight at the reservoir for many years - had dropped from a high of forty-four nesting pairs to single figures.

Funding was raised in 2023 by volunteers from the Welsh Harp Conservation Group and topped up by Canal and River Trust, and in 2024 twelve new breeding rafts were towed out and anchored on the east marsh. The new rafts have perspex sides, shingle floors and terracotta or slate shelters for chicks.

2025 saw four pairs of common tern produce eight chicks born across four nests on separate rafts. Several black-headed gulls also arrived in late May and bred for the first time on two of the rafts producing four chicks.

We hope this is the start of a new revival.