Page 35 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #10
P. 35
Clockwise from well above the
left: High up over bustle of the
the River Tyne, urban streets.
kittiwakes have Local council
access to their workers battle
feeding grounds with the constant
in the Dogger area scourge of large
of the North Sea. quantities of guano
High ledges ofer produced by the
sanctuary for colony during the
rearing young breeding season.
Kittiwake towers
By the late 1990s, the tiered tower now stands on – but the addition of ranks of
kittiwake colony on a high decontaminated industrial ledges enticed the birds to
ridge of the Baltic Flour Mill land at Saltmeadows nest there in large numbers.
had become the single largest Riverside and supports “Something like that would
colony on the river, but the around 90 breeding pairs. be brilliant on the Tyne,”
mill’s redevelopment into It’s an unusual structure Helen says.“It’d be great to
an arts centre meant the – but not quite unique. have a structure that caters
kittiwakes had to be moved. Helen Quayle enthuses for the kittiwakes in a way
“The Kittiwake Tower was about the remarkable tower that reduces conflict, while
constructed to provide an at Middleton Island, an allowing for the birds to be
alternative nest site for birds abandoned USAAF base in viewed and enjoyed. But it
displaced as a result of the the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike the would have to be right for the
redevelopment,” explains Gateshead tower, that wasn’t birds; not a quick fix to allow
Gateshead Council ecologist built for the kittiwakes – it’s a the population to be further
Peter Shield. The remarkable derelict Cold War radar tower shifted around.”
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 35
