Successful year of breeding for endangered birds at former military site

National Trust rangers have been celebrating a successful nesting season at the former military testing site - which has become a thriving habitat for birds at risk of decline.

Wading birds migrate to live on the shingle split for some of the year - including the main breeding sites of Kings Marsh and Airfield Marsh.

The increase in numbers is down to careful management of the landscape to create ideal habitats for the birds to nest.

Surveys by the team and volunteers between April and July recorded 51 pairs of rare and at risk redshanks - the highest number of pairs since recording began in 2005.

This year has also seen the second highest number of breeding pairs of lapwing and avocet.

Lapwings are on the UK red list for conservation while redshanks and avocets are on the amber list.

Area Ranger for the National Trust at Orford Ness, Sam Cooper, said: “It’s a team effort to look after the nesting sites, so we are really pleased to see this increase of breeding pairs.

“The birds like slightly different nesting habitats - avocets and lapwings like to nest in the open wetland, but the redshank prefer tussocks, or clumps of short damp grass - so we use a variety of mowing, brush cutting and the sheep graze the land to create a mosaic of long and short grass.

“It’s also important to maintain optimum water levels on the marsh and we use a network of sluices and drainage systems across the island to make sure the levels are just right."

Lapwing chick on Orford Ness. (Image: Sam Cooper)

As part of the work the birds are also ringed by a small team of trained staff to help monitor their movements and help better understand the changes in population.

Sam added: “Ringing the chicks is hugely important for us to learn migratory patterns of the birds, as well as feeding habits of the birds.

"Lapwings and redshanks live for about four year and avocets about seven years and it can be really exciting to see where the birds might be spotted.

"We might see some of the chicks returning to the Ness but they could go anywhere, even as far away as Europe and north Africa."

Clearing the ditches to maintain water levels at Orford Ness. (Image: Sam Cooper)

A beautiful day at Kings Marsh, at Orford Ness. A former salt-marsh, it is now enclosed by river walls and provides habitat for both waders and wildfowl. (Image: ©National Trust Images/Joe Cornish)

Lapwing on Orford Ness. (Image: Sam Cooper)

The remote and fragile habitat at Orford Ness National Nature Reserve, Suffolk (Image: National Trust Images/Chris Lacey)