ONE of the UK's most endangered seabirds is making an astonishing fightback from the brink of disaster.

The little tern colony at Crimdon, east Durham, has had to endure many setbacks over recent years.

In 1999, virtually all its eggs were stolen by an illegal egg collector from Hartlepool, who was later taken to court.

The following summer no young were raised as the birds tried and failed to nest on several sites around Teesmouth.

Last year, the birds again tried to nest in various places and eventually wentback to Crimdon, arriving late but producing 31 young from 30 nests, much better than the national average of one young for every two nests.

Now the Billingham-based Industry Nature Conservation Association (Inca), which manages the project to protect the breeding sites, has announced that 42 pairs are nesting at Crimdon.

The site has a round-the-clock voluntary warden system in place, funded by local industry, and it also being monitored by the police to avoid a repeat of the theft of eggs in 1999.

Warden Ian Greenwood said: "It seems to be a healthy colony and we have already seen a couple of chicks being hatched, with many more to come."

Geoff Barber, of Inca, said: "The birds seem to be coming back from the brink of devastation when we had the eggs stolen in 1999 followed by the summer of 2000 when no birds nested at Teesmouth."

Inca was established 12 years ago to bring together industry and environmentalists on Teesside to protect existing habitats and create new ones, while allowing industrial development and production