Us humans inhabiting the Wadden Sea region need dikes to protect us from the sea. These dikes, in turn, need clay for being maintained, leaving clay pits in the places where this clay has been obtained from. If we manage these clay pits wisely, they can turn into the perfect breeding, resting and feeding habitat for endangered sea-, meadow- and waterbirds. This way, protection of people and birds can go hand in hand – a beautiful thing!

Since 2024, we are collaborating with the National Park of Lower Saxony and the Naturschutzstiftung FWW to restore breeding habitat for terns and other meadow- and waterbirds using a clay pit in Augustgroden. In March 2024, we teamed up with a large number of volunteers to prepare the islands in the clay pit for the birds. We spent various long weekends trimming back the vegetation and building electric fences to keep potential predators out. Trail cameras placed on site clearly showed that the birds were grateful and numerously appearing during the early season, even courtshipping in front of the cameras. The vegetation, however, showed more tenacity than we had imagined, and claimed back the islands. This taught us that we need to come better prepared, such that we are now working on various other solutions, adopting an experimental approach to see what the birds would prefer us to do for future breeding seasons.