It’s almost time for the much-loved Little Terns to arrive on our shores!

Each year the endangered bird species makes the long journey to the Central Coast from South-east Asia for their annual breeding season.

To prepare for the Little Tern’s arrival we will be conducting sand building works at Karagi Point, The Entrance North - at the location where the birds are likely to nest (they’re strongly site faithful).

Machinery will be on site from Wednesday 13 September for up to a week and will involve strategic fencing and sand-building to mitigate threats to Little Tern eggs and chicks.

Works include:

•    Installing a small sand filled geo-fabric barrier parallel with the beach and to the east of the Little Tern nesting area, this temporary structure would be approximately 200m long.
•    A sand berm will be constructed along the eastern inside edge of the fenced area to act as a secondary barrier, grading into existing sand levels.
•    Sand will be taken from the area between the Little Tern nest site and The Entrance Channel.
•    Once the nesting area has been secured, Council will carry out maintenance as required before fencing and geo-fabric is removed at seasons end.

The Little Terns are expected to arrive on our shore in October to begin their breeding season.

Once the Little Terns arrive, we understand it’s exciting to see these rare birds nesting and ask visitors to the area to help protect the eggs and chicks and make their breeding season another success by:

•    Keeping well back from the fenced area as they are highly sensitive to disturbance and can abandon their nest site if they feel unsafe
•    Taking your litter with you when leaving the beach - especially all food waste, fishing tackle and bait, as this can attract predators or lead to entanglement (bins are located in the car park)
•    Avoid being unnecessarily noisy (loud music, boat and jet ski motors, fireworks etc.)
•    Avoid flying kites and drones near the fenced area (this can lead to colony abandonment)
•    Reporting fox sightings in the area
•    Keeping your cats indoors at night and dogs away from the reserve.

Dogs (including dogs on leads) are prohibited from Karagi Point at any time. Unauthorised disturbance to endangered species or their nest could result in severe financial penalties; Council staff and rangers will be regularly patrolling the area.

Council would like to thank the community for being respectful of the nesting sites and urge them to continue to take care and obey the temporary fencing and signage, so we can get to enjoy these special visitors and their growing families.

Photo credit: Andrew Robinson.