July 17, 2026 – Belgium’s North Sea port of Zeebrugge is again home to Western Europe’s largest breeding colonies of both sandwich terns and common terns, according to the Flemish agency for nature and forest.
The Flemish Research Institute Nature and Forest (INBO) counted 7,248 occupied nests of sandwich terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) on the artificial tern-breeding peninsula in the outer harbour of the port of Zeebrugge in its latest monitoring, Agentschap Natuur & Bos said on July 16. INBO also counted 1,191 nests of common terns (Sterna hirundo) and 11 nests of little terns (Sternula albifrons).
The tally of occupied nests indicates that the number of sandwich tern breeding pairs is the highest since at least 1985, based on monitoring data from INBO. Flanders had 6,279 sandwich tern breeding pairs last year, all in the Zeebrugge area, at the time accounting for more than 11% of the total biogeographical population of sandwich terns in northwestern Europe.
The common tern count compares with 1,623 nests in the Zeebrugge area last year, and a single breeding pair of little terns. The Zeebrugge area accounts for more than 60% of the Flemish population of monitored breeding coastal birds, according to INBO.
The so-called Sternenschiereiland, or Stern Peninsula, was created as an artificially constructed area on the eastern stretch of the port of Zeebrugge. The sprayed-up sand plain is now a nature reserve of about 22 hectares, and its combination of open sandy areas, shell-rich stretches and undisturbed conditions has created a unique habitat for coastal breeding birds, according to Agentschap Natuur & Bos.
“The success demonstrates how targeted nature restoration and careful management can lead to exceptional results,” Agentschap Natuur & Bos said. “Even in the middle of a world port and among the most popular beaches of our coast.”
Part of the peninsula has been fenced off to keep out predators including foxes, cats and rats, which allowed for the recovery of the common tern population and the return of the sandwich tern in 2022, after the species had disappeared from the site for several years. The growing presence of humans in Europe’s coastal areas, including for beach recreation, has reduced breeding areas for coastal breeders.
While terns represent the main breeding population on the peninsula, other birds breeding there include black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), common shelducks (Tadorna tadorna), Eurasian oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus), Mediterranean gulls (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus), common ringed plovers (Charadrius hiaticula) and Kentish plovers (Charadrius alexandrinus), the agency said.
The area is inaccessible to the public. Its quiet, undisturbed environment also attracts harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), which occasionally visit the peninsula, particularly during winter, according to Agentschap Natuur & Bos.