BACKGROUND
Tata Steel Europe has undertaken a policy commitment to protect and, where possible, enhance biodiversity at all its sites. One such site is Shotton in North Wales, where the Company has been processing steel for the last 120 years.
Common Terns - silvery-grey and white seabirds that are often noisy in company and breed in colonies, used to traditionally nest in a marshland close to Shotton. But their breeding was frequently hampered by the inundation of nesting areas by spring tides.
IMPLEMENTATION
In 1970, Tata Steel Europe (British Steel Corporation at the time) in partnership with the Merseyside Ringing Group (MRG), created the first safe nesting area for Common Terns, by deploying artificial rafts. These rafts provided terns with a nesting location that was resilient to changing water levels and outside of the reach of land predators such as foxes, stoats and weasels. This encouraged more birds to flock to the lagoons.
After attracting 12 pairs of nesting terns in the first year of the project, over time a colony has grown, with rafts being replaced by platforms, and later with three man-made islands (approximately 1000m²), to become the largest Common Tern colony in Wales (peaking at 700+ pairs in 2007, currently ~400 pairs) and one of the top five colonies in UK.
The colony continues to be a major contributor to the Irish Sea Common Tern metapopulation, supporting an amber-listed species as specified in the Dee Estuary Special Protection Area.
Due of its importance as a wetland habitat and as a prolific breeding location for Common Terns, the settlement pond complex was designated in UK law in 1999 as the 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' (SSSI).
In 2011, Tata Steel Europe established a visitor walkway, bird observation hides, watch-tower and indoor & outdoor educational facilities at the site. Group excursions and school student visits are now a regular feature and the Company is happy to play host and ensure that they have an enriching experience of engaging with nature.
IMPACT
With the measures undertaken and the results achieved, Tata Steel Europe has not just secured and enhanced Biodiversity but has also surpassed all stakeholder expectations.
In 2019, 412 Common Tern pairs nested on the islands, successfully rearing 409 chicks.
  Birds observed by MRG on the lagoons in 2019, during monthly counts for the British Trust for Ornithology include:

For its initiative and efforts,
Tata Steel Europe was conferred
the Prince of Wales
Award for Conservation
in 1971.

GEESE         Pink Footed Geese  |  140       Greylag  |  48       Canada Goose  |  63
DUCKS         Teal  |  12       Mallard  |  35       Tufted  |  42       Gadwall  |  93       Shoveler  |  7       Goldeneye   |  8
GULLS          Black-headed  |  300       Mediterranean  |  2       Herring  |  2
OTHERS       Coot  |  114      Moorhen  |  7       Little Grebe  |  6       Mute Swan  |  2       Grey Heron  |  2       Oystercatcher   |  2
Other species seen across the Shotton site include: Grey Wagtail, Robin; Woodpigeon, Swallow, Blue tits, Great tit, Cetti's warbler, Reed warbler, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk.
Tata Steel Europe provides ongoing assistance with the maintenance of the islands and reedbeds, which includes suppressing vegetation, as terns prefer to nest on bare, stony ground, maintaining protection from predation and covering the island nesting sites until the Common Terns return each spring, so as to prevent more dominant, resident species taking up the nesting locations whilst the terns are away.