In 1924, British photographer Emma Turner moved into a hut on a 1,200-acre island; over two breeding seasons, its tern colonies topped 1,000 nests

In 1923, pioneering British bird photographer and ornithologist Emma Louisa Turner volunteered for an unusual conservation project: to become the first resident watcher on Scolt Head Island, a roughly 1,200-acre barrier island off the north Norfolk coast. Turner spent a total of 18 months on the island, living in a basic hut during the 1924 and 1925 breeding seasons while monitoring nesting birds and protecting colonies from egg collectors and disturbance. According to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Turner took up the formal watcher role in 1924, while contemporary records show that protection produced a notable increase in Scolt Head’s tern colonies.

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