Seaton Carew beach filled with little tern nests
More than 50 nests at a seaside resort are filled with little tern eggs which are ready to hatch.Last year, a record 140 birds were born at Seaton Carew in Hartlepool and this year things "are progressing well", conservationists say.Volunteers for the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust (TVWT) have praised the support from the local community to protect the little terns.TVWT warden Derek Wood advised bird watchers that this is "a great time" to come and potentially see eggs hatching.
Mr Wood said: "Things are progressing well at Seaton Carew with 127 little terns there so far."We have in excess of 50 little tern nests and six ringed plover nests - all of which have eggs."Only yesterday our wardens witnessed the first three ringed plover chicks of the season."Now is a great time to visit the site and see the crazy goings on of the chicks."Public engagement and support has once again been brilliant and we are so grateful."Little terns, the smallest terns in the UK, typically leave Seaton Carew in mid to late August.The species is currently classed as amber on the UK list of conservation concern.
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The Guardian
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Sky News
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BBC News
5 hours ago
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Why do people get cut off by the tide at Wells-next-the-Sea?
A lifeboat service said it has rescued more people cut off by the tide in the past six months than it has in the past seven years. Last week it was called out after 40 people were cut off at two locations on the Norfolk coastline in the space of two hours. Why is the tide so dangerous and what can you do if you get stranded? With heatwaves arriving, the RNLI crew at Wells-next-the-Sea, in Norfolk, has seen hoards of people visit the beach early in the summer season. Despite signs and sirens at the beach, Mandy Humphreys, the water safety officer at Wells RNLI, said a lot of people have a lack of knowledge about the tides. Impact of a changing seabed Ms Humphreys said the contours of the seabed were "always changing" which leads to people being cut off by the tide, even if they have visited that beach before."This is a natural phenomenon. The seabed in this area is very sandy."Unfortunately, over the last couple of years a sandbar has been forming and gradually growing, which runs parallel to Wells beach. The drain that separates it from the rest of the beach is getting deeper." A sandbar is a submerged area of sand or sediment which is formed by waves and currents offshore from a one formed at Wells is said to have one steep side and the other having a shallow Humphreys said she has been involved in rescues where people did not realise they had been cut off. "The beach is very alluring. It's absolutely beautiful... there are a significant number of people that we rescue that don't understand the basics about tides." 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As one of the hotspots where people become stranded, the RNLI was first alerted to the sandbar at the beach after a group of local residents became unknowingly her time with the RNLI Ms Humphreys has taken part in a simulation of what it is like to be stranded on a sandbar, and despite wearing a life jacket and having a crew near by she said she was left feeling "incredibly vulnerable".She added: "I've helped rescue people from that sandbar and being stood on that sandbar myself... I still felt quite vulnerable and the urge to wade back to safety is a very strong one, I really understand that now." Be aware of the dangers Ms Humphreys said people visiting the beach often have a lower perception of danger when on far this year 43 people have been rescued by the Wells crew after being stranded, with 34 of them at Wells beach."I've been on rescues where we have gone out... the water has been up to my thigh, and then sometimes if there are dogs or children that are frightened it takes some minutes to get them in, and then it [the water] is up to my waist."Having worked with Wells RNLI for the past seven years, Ms Humphreys said it can take crew members up to 10 minutes to get to an incident after being paged. One of the worst things is they do not always know the exact details of the incident they are going out to."The Stiffkey shout, where we had three shouts on Mothering Sunday, we knew they were up to their waists in water… as a crew member that puts the fear of God into me. Every second really does matter."That's real pressure. So we encourage people that if they are cut off, the earlier they can tell us, the longer we have to get there before they are up to their waists in water." What to do in an emergency If you are stranded at the beach, the RNLI urges people to call 999 for help and use what3words to help the service locate is advised people get back to dry sand at least four hours before high tide. Ms Humphreys said: "If they sit tight and wait for the lifeboat to get there, that's the safest thing to do."For Wells station in particular, we know from the description where they are." Even though people may want to wade through the water, the steep side of the sandbar means people can find themselves in deep water "quicker than expected". "It's not the people who call 999 that worry me so much, it's the people who wade back to safety themselves. We get reports of parents holding children above their heads and I worry that if someone loses their footing, you then have a youngster and an adult in the water." The RNLI's Float to Live campaign advises people that if they find themselves in difficulty they should tilt their head back in the water, try to breath normally, and move their arms and legs to help stay afloat. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
