Council staff, experts and volunteers are scrambling to prepare a stunning UK beach ahead of the arrival of its annual visitors. On the Denbighshire coast, North Wales, a beach will be completely surrounded by a 2.1-mile perimeter compound to keep tourists - and predators - away from a vulnerable species. This includes erecting 1.8 miles of electric fencing to create 11 pens in the sand dunes near Gronant.

This yearly mission must be completed in time for the summer visitors which flock to the sandy shores, enabling them to stay undisturbed. Each year, swarms of Little Terns fly to the UK from west Africa towards the end of April and the beginning of May. Last year saw 166 breeding pairs arrive and 158 fledglings depart, a figure slightly up from the year before, North Wales Live reports.

For two decades, people taking care of the North Wales beach have worked to safeguard the area to ensure the feathered travellers can arrive safely. The birds visit to rear their young in the shallow dunes, therefore they are subject to any kind of disturbance. 

This ranges from human interference, to uncontrollable events such as the weather and tides - these can all have a great impact on the bird's breeding season. As a result, local groups team up to prevent any outside threats, the largest being predation. 

Despite the multiple prevention measures in place, crows have previously swooped in and helped themselves to 60 eggs. A separate incident saw a fox sneak into the pen after a storm had blown away the sand from underneath the fences, resulting in a large number of eggs lost. 

At the end of each season, all of the fencing is carefully removed from the area which is classified a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). A visitor centre is also assembled on the beach so that members of the public can enjoy viewing the birds from a distance. 

North Denbighshire coastal ranger Claudia Smith told NorthWalesLive: “We maintain this set up at the location as the birds are very vulnerable to human disturbance and they are also at risk from predators both in the air and on the ground. 

"We’ll have a team of wardens at the visitors centre from early May to protect the birds, talk to visitors and collect information about this year’s colony.”

The fencing will be constructed on the following dates: Tuesday, April 15; Thursday, April 24; and Tuesday-Friday, April 29–May 2.