Sucsesfull breeding of terns in the Nemunas Loops Regional Park
19-08-2022
One of the aims of the LIFE TERNS project is to restore breeding habitats of the Little and Common tern that degrade due to the overgrowing by gasses and bushes and to ensure long-term conservation of the species. Only sandy or low-grass habitats of the water bodies are suitable for the breeding of the Common and Little Terns.
Sadly, but at the start of the project there were no more terns in the most important breeding sites on the islands of the Nemunas River in the territory of the Nemuno Kilpos Regional Park. Nevertheless, due to the regular maintaining of seagull habitats, removing of the overgrown grasses and bushes and shaping of the open sand areas which were done annually, the terns had returned to the Regional Park.
According to the results of the monitoring of 2022 about 20 pairs of the Little Tern and 50 pairs of the Common Tern had bred in the territory of the Nemuno Kilpos Regional Park. Some of the nests were damaged by the heavy rains and raised water-level during the season. Nevertheless, most of the pairs had successfully bred-up their new generation. This allows us to be optimistic that the breeding population of the terns is reviving, gets stronger and regularly breeds in properly maintained islands of the Nemunas river.
The project “Adjustment of key stakeholders’ capacity for improvement of Common and Little terns conservation status in Lithuania (LIFE TERNS)” (LIFE17 NAT/LT/000545) is implement by the Lithuanian Ornithological Society and its partners State Enterprise Inland Waterways Authority, Nemuno Kilpos Regional Park Administration and UAB “EKO STOMA”.
Information prepared by the Nemunas Loops Regional Park
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Islands of the Nemunas. Photo by Renatas Jakaitis
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Young Common tern. Photo by Žydrūnas Sinkevičius
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Young Little tern. Photo by Žydrūnas Sinkevičius
