The RSPB hopes to attract young terns like these

With a little help from the force, hundreds of little chicks have won their stripes.

The force is helping to create a whole new colony of birds on the shores of Belfast lough.

And among the happy families are Roseate Terns - one of Europe's rarest seabirds - with only about 1,600 nesting pairs.

Two years ago, the RAF flew cockle shells onto an island in Belfast Harbour to encourage the breeding of Common Terns, also known as sea swallows.

This has proven so successful that the island now needs to be extended because so many birds are breeding there.

It was a tricky operation to lower the posts from the helicopter

On Wednesday, the RAF flew telegraph poles onto the island which will be used as the infrastructure for the island's extension.

There are currently 150 pairs of terns on the island.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will also use the telegraph poles as a basis for fencing - in order to keep out foxes who have been attracted to the site.

RSPB warden Anthony McGeehan said they would have been "completely stuck" without the RAF's help.

"The poles go in horizontally rather than vertically, and we need a helicopter because the mud is virtually quicksand down there and the water is only a few inches deep," he said.

The Roseate Tern is a rare species

Mr McGeehan said the operation was like "Ground Force times ten".

"It's essentially a decking operation because we need to extend the floorspace of the existing island which is covered with terns in the breeding season and cover it with cockleshells which the birds will nest upon," he said.

The RSPB reports that the Roseate Terns have been recently seen within the Common Tern colony.