Beachgoers are being warned to steer clear from a section of Mount Main Beach where a pair of oystercatchers have laid their egg.

The eggs were laid in a nest in a scrape in the sand on Sunday morning and it was a scramble by the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service to get the area coned off.

The Department of Conservation will be erecting a protective fence around it similar to the one they put up for last year's nest.

The pair have laid their eggs in the same place as Harry and Sophie did last year.

Harry and Sophie went on to successfully raise two chicks from the eggs they laid.

Risks to the oystercatchers include human traffic, dogs, cats and stoats.

To find out more about these birds, visit http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/variable-oystercatcher