Common Terns on Preston Marina

The Terns have been such a delight to see on the breakwater pontoons in the former Preston Dock. They've been here for a couple of years now but this year, with the help of Fylde Bird Club and RSPB, gravel filled tyres have been put out to aid the nesting. The growing colony is 'billed' locally as the Terns in the heart of the city. Great shame about the state of the water in the dock. Because it isn't flushed on a regular basis and a stream brings in farm runoff from the surround countryside there is a toxic alga bloom that renders the dock unusable for any kind of water sports. Get a mouthful and you'd be straight off the A & E. Waste of a good resource.

I have a historic connection with the dock as my greatfather was one of the foreman navvies during it's construction. He'd migrated over from Lincolnshire in the 1880's. History. As a v. young lad in the late 60's and 70's I remember going down to the dock when it was working. It was a bizarre sight to see large ships coming up the R Ribble through the local farm land. One tradition used to be that at midnight on New Years Eve the ships in the docks would sound their hooters and sirens.