News

Kittiwake colony on Tyne Bridge threatened

13 December 2015

By James

A hotel firm has submitted a plan to install anti-bird netting and an electrified surface on the Tyne Bridge in an effort to remove the colony of Kittiwakes which are nesting there.

Gainford Hotels, which owns two venues underneath the bridge, says that the efforts will create a “safer, more hygienic area”, but bird lovers have already begun objecting to the plans to move the birds.

The colony, which nests on the bridge, as well as on the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead, is believed to be the only inland nesting site for Kittiwakes in the country. Around 100 nesting pairs are estimated to use the bridge, and several have already begun preparing their nests for the upcoming nesting season.

James Littlewood, a representative of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, said that preventing the birds from nesting “does not solve the problem”, and that the birds would only move to another building and begin nesting again.

Gainford Hotels have yet to comment on the situation.

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