A MAJOR industrial site seems an unlikely venue for nature to kick a goal, but that’s exactly what happened out on North Mole this year.

Fairy terns, listed as a vulnerable species whose population Australia-wide has dropped as low as 4300, had one of their best breeding seasons in decades on Fremantle Ports land destined to become a container storage facility.

Environmental consultant and bird fancier Peter Curry kept an eye on the colony over summer and says it produced about 100 fledglings.

“That’s the biggest breeding success in decades,” the Palmyra man says.

He says it’s sobering to remember the tiny terns are more rare than Carnaby’s black cockatoo, but this year’s unlikely breeding success shows that with some attention their decline could be reversed.

He says careful coastal development could create sanctuaries.

According to the federal environment department, fairy terns nest on sheltered sandy beaches above the high tide line and below vegetation.

“The main threat to the subspecies is the disturbance of breeding sites by human activities (including bikes, horses and vehicles) and predation by introduced species and birds,” a department fact sheet notes.

Mr Curry told the Herald the birds had attempted to colonise the site last year, but the Port had been carrying out major earthworks.

He was told by workers the Port had tried to protect the terns, but received dodgy advice from the WA parks and wildlife department that caused the birds to abandon their nests.

This year the Port put fencing around the site so they were undisturbed.

Port media wrangler Ainslie de Vos—who revealed she’s a twitcher—says the authority is creating a one-hectare sanctuary for the fairy terns, including interpretive signs. It’s enlisted the help of one of WA’s leading seabird experts, John Darnell from the WA museum, to create the sanctuary.

by STEVE GRANT