The terns are back, from zero to 756

Sandwich terns have returned to a colony on England's south coast three years after avian flu wiped them out, with numbers climbing from zero to 756. The breeding site at Pagham Harbour, between Brighton and Southampton, was abandoned in 2022 after a severe outbreak of HPAI hit the birds along with black-headed and Mediterranean gulls. "It's taken several years of dedicated conservation action, but the situation began to 'tern' around last year," said Wez Smith, senior project manager for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Yes, he made the pun. He is a man who has earned it. The recovery came from predator-proof fencing, rat monitoring and the selective clearing of vegetation to coax the birds back. Rangers also set up dog-friendly exercise areas well away from the nests. Little terns, ringed plovers and oystercatchers have all increased too. The site now holds record-breaking populations across a 128,000-acre stretch of protected coast.