Scientists have painted a long stretch of asphalt on the Snaefellsnes peninsula red, yellow and white to try to discourage the sea birds from wandering onto the carriageway, national broadcaster RUV reports . The area is home to large Arctic tern colonies.

Young birds are particularly vulnerable to traffic as they gravitate towards the warm road surface, biology student Hanna Kristrun Jonsdottir tells the broadcaster. The dark asphalt also serves to camouflage the youngsters, whose feathers are a mottled brown.

As tourists numbers have grown, so has the amount of traffic on the peninsula's roads, the report notes. Biologist Kristinn Olafur Kristinsson says the plan is to see how the birds respond to the multi-coloured road this summer, and if it works, the idea could spread to other parts of the country.