A switched-on bird which dodged anti-nesting deterrents by making use of a street light has been awarded the Nest of the Year title in a public vote.

The kittiwake built its nest on the top of the lamp near the Guildhall on Newcastle Quayside, one of the buildings where measures have been taken to stop the birds nesting in what is the furthest inland kittiwake breeding colony in the world.

The Kittiwakes upon the Tyne group drew up a shortlist of eight inventive nest sites for its 2022 Nest of the Year contest. The lamp bird faced competition from nests on larger spotlight lamps, the tallest nest in the colony sited under the Tyne Bridge tower and birds nesting at the Guildhall on top of deterrent spikes and next to the electric Avi-shock system.

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Other candidates included a nest on the railway viaduct near Newcastle Quayside and nesting this year at the former Smiths Dock in North Shields.

“Kittiwakes are very clever birds and the lamp nest was judged to be inventive. As well as being a creative choice the lamp would also have provided some heat,” said the group’s Paul Buskin.

Meanwhile, new figures on this year’s nesting performance from studies by North Shields ornithologist and kittiwake expert Dan Turner show that, for the first time, the number of nests along the Tyne exceeded 2,000, with at least 2,036 recorded on the ledges of various man-made bridges, buildings and structures.

For the second year running there were more than 1,000 nests on the Tyne Bridge as a whole. At the Tynemouth cliff nesting site there were a further 387 nests which enjoyed a similar breeding productivity when compared to the river birds.

“The breeding productivity for the river as a whole was healthy and there was little or no real evidence of bird flu along the Tyne,” said Mr Turner.

At the North Shields Ferry Mews building, despite anti-nesting netting placed high at its south face in December 2020, the presence of nesting kittiwakes continued. After the netting was placed on Ferry Mews, Mr Turner started a petition to save and protect the few remaining kittiwakes nesting at North Shields. The number of petition signatures currently stands above 7,600.

Work is also due to start early next year on a new tower at South Shore Road in Gateshead which will provide space for up to 200 nests and an internal cabin from which ornithologists can study the birds. The tower has been designed by South Shields-based consultancy Shoney Wind and has been commissioned by renewable energy firm RWE.

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