Natural England, alongside partners including Environment Agency, Fylde Bird Club, Lancaster University, RSPB, Lancaster & District Birdwatchers Society and Lune Rivers Trust have been working hard to do a good ‘tern’ for the silvery-grey and white birds which are affectionally known as the ‘sea-swallow.’

Just outside of Lancaster and Morecambe in the Lune Estuary, breeding pairs of common terns were once a regular sight but lost habitat, disturbance, lack of food and increased threats from predators caused the colony of several hundred pairs to disappear in 2008.

Terns like to nest on bare shingle or sand, creating scrapes in the stones to lay eggs that are camouflaged to look like pebbles.