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The Little Tern (Sterna albifrons, if you want to get classical) is recognised as an endangered species, with its population level reaching critical levels over the past decade.

Part of the Little Tern's problem is it is what is known as an ecological specialist, meaning it depends on particular types of diet and habitat to survive, so when it loses its food or its habitat, it is in trouble very quickly.

The colony is fenced off for protection

Trevor Stephenson is one of the volunteer Little Tern wardens at Crimdon Dene and says the birds have been hit pretty badly by modern Britain.

"Beach developments worldwide, estuary developments, a couple of hundred years ago the Tees would have been all marshes and reed beds.

"They've all been developed now, so Little Terns originally wouldn't have nested on stretches of beach like this, but they've been pushed out onto the margins and this is the sort of area they prefer now to nest in."

The good news is, they have been breeding in unprecedented numbers on Teesside this year.

"We've only had forty seventy pairs nesting, which is slightly down on previous years, but they've managed to raise a 105 chicks. The last record in 1998 was 67 chicks, so they've gone way beyond that."

To put that into context, forty seven pairs of Little Terns would normally have around nineteen chicks. This lot have had a hundred and five. They have not just beaten the previous record, they have beaten it by fifty seven per cent.

Trevor Stephenson says they have become local celebrities at Crimdon Dene over the years.

"You do build up a following of people that come down on a regular, some on a daily basis, to see the Little Terns.

"Some twice a day.

"They'll come morning and evening and walk the dog and watch the Little Terns. The locals pass information about how many they've seen and what's happening, so the people of the area have really taken them on board and realised the importance of trying to conserve them."

What's caused this population boom?

Who knows? There could be something in the water. One theory that's been mooted is that the European Union could be to thank for this one.

Last year it banned the fishing of sand eels in the North Sea, after surveys found an almost total absence of yearling fish.

And what is it the Little Terns are feeding their chicks this year? Sand eels.