Update: Friday, 22 January 2021.

A meeting has been arranged for Tuesday, 26 January, to discuss a way to maintain a presence of Kittiwakes nesting at North Shields, close to the ferry landing. Attendees are to include a Ward Councillor (Riverside Ward), North Tyneside Council Biodiversity Officer, residents from the two apartment blocks involved and representatives from the Tyne Kittiwake Partnership. Other parties have been invited, with some apologies for absence already received and accepted. Two local MPs have been invited to attend, one has replied with their apologies for absence.  

It would be wonderful to maintain this small North Shields nesting group of Kittiwakes close to their original breeding site on the Tyne. Early pioneers from here have ensured the success of the River Tyne Kittiwakes and the stronghold they have now established further up the river, as far as Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides many kilometres away. The Tyne Kittiwakes have provided a great success story and it would only be right if their presence was welcomed more instead of being seen as a pest in certain circles. We need to encourage the natural life with which we share our planet, especially in times of its diminishing habitat and concerning population declines, all so often caused by our own hands.

With thanks from Daniel and the Kittiwakes of North Shields.

(The photograph, taken on 8 June 2017, shows some of the North Shields buildings beside the ferry landing where the Kittiwakes have nested during the past 72 years).