DNREC has reopened the stretch of beach at Gordons Pond that was closed for protection of threatened piping plovers.
It was reopened because of a nest failure, DNREC suspects the cause is predation by red foxes which are believed to have claimed one of the parent plovers and all three chicks that hatched last month.
The nest was protected by an enclosure that was built around it, but leaving the nest to feed put the adults and chicks in a more vulnerable position.
DNREC removed 800 feet of fencing late last week that cordoned off the area around the nest that was closed on June 26.
The area is open for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, including permitted surf fishing vehicles with weekend drive-on reservations.
The protective fencing extended to a portion of Cape Henlopen’s ocean beach, and that was also removed as was cautionary signage on fence posts.
Beachgoers and anglers can use that area, too, but The Point – another stretch of beach at Cape Henlopen – is still closed through September 1, October 1 for the bayside beach.
That has been closed annually since 1993 for the benefit of threatened and endangered beach-nesting and migratory shorebird species like red knots, piping plovers, American oystercatchers, and least terns.
