Drop in number of kittiwake nests along River Tyne

THERE were 1,658 kittiwake nests along the River Tyne this year - down by 18.3% on the 2022 figure of 2,030.

- TONY HENDERSON

This is mainly due to the ongoing works on the Tyne Bridge and to a lesser extent a possible follow-on from summer 2023 when many birds died from avian flu and from which the kittiwake colony is likely still recovering.

The figures come from the annual surveys by North Shields ornithologist and seabird researcher Dan Turner, who has been studying the Tyne kittiwakes since 1994.

Breeding productivity the number of chicks per nest for the river as a whole was 0.79 this year, an increase from the 2023 figure of 0.69 which was due to the bird flu effect, but down on the 2024 total of 1.02.

"It is uncertain why there was a reduction in productivity after it held up well in 2024 after bouncing back from the impact of bird flu in 2023," said Dan.