Compound work begins to protect breeding terns

WORK starts this week to prepare a Welsh beach for the annual arrival of its famous occupants.

- ANDREW FORGRAVE

Volunteers will be teaming up with experts and council staff to build a 3.5km-perimeter compound on the Denbighshire coast.

For extra security, 3km of electric fencing will be used to create 11 pens on a shingle ridge among the sand dunes near Gronant.

All must be in place before the arrival of their feathered summer visitors to prevent them from being disturbed.

The work is part of a two-decade bid to safeguard the area's little terns, which are due to fly in from west Africa at the end of April into May.

As the birds rear their young in shallow scrapes in the shingle, they are extremely vulnerable to any kind of disturbance.

The weather, tides and human interference all have an impact on whether or not the birds enjoy a successful breeding season.