Fences for Feathered Friends

The burning hot sand on the dunes in midsummer might not feel like a great place to raise babies, but for some animals, this is the perfect environment for their little ones.

Have you noticed the fencing and signage keeping dogs and vehicles out of the sand dunes around Flat Top this summer?

North Coast National Parks and Wildlife Service staff have been monitoring the breeding of endangered Little Terns in the dunes just north of Flat Top since December last year. With a little bit of luck and a lot of help from our community, the Little Terns have had their first successful breeding season here in ten years.

Little Terns haven’t successfully bred near Flat Top since 2013. An incredible 29 nesting pairs were counted this summer, with 20 chicks surviving to the fledgling stage. One of the main threats to Little Terns is human disturbance to their nests, particularly damage by 4WDs driving on the dunes and predation by domestic dogs.

Woolgoolga Back Beach regulars will be familiar with the abundance of furry friends on this offleash beach and will have noticed 4WD tracks on the southern end of the beach. The community’s assistance in keeping their dogs and vehicles away from Little Tern nests throughout the breeding season has meant the nesting birds were able to safely raise their chicks. National Parks and the Little Terns are extremely thankful to the Woolgoolga community for their invaluable support for this important conservation project.

Fencing and signage will be removed as soon as the last chick moves on with its parents, so your dogs will have free rein across the dunes again. Hopefully, the Little Terns will choose these dunes for their nesting site again next breeding season, so keep an eye out for fencing next summer. For more information on how to help our threatened shorebirds, have a look at the NSW Share the Shore project online.

Written by: Josie Fraser, local resident Photos: Kaitlyn York, Threatened Species Project Officer from NPWS