Big gains for little terns: how Lindisfarne reserve is helping a rare bird survive tourism

Seasonal wardens and netted fences are helping protect the rare ground-nesting birds that arrive each spring on the UK’s shores On Ross Sands in Northumberland, a little tern has caught sight of a group of people and is sprinting across the beach. “It wants us to follow it,” says Andrew Craggs, senior manager at Lindisfarne national nature reserve . “It’s a diversionary thing – it’s got a scrape and it wants to take us away because it thinks we’re predators.” Craggs is no predator, and he’s not