Friends of Groyne No.4: Sandwich Tern

Showing posts with label Sandwich Tern. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 May 2014

The Farnes - Inner Farne

Inner Farne is Tern Central, hundreds if not thousands of Arctic Terns all involved in frenetic pairing activity. Just a few weeks from now walking up the path from the quay will be fraught with danger, wearing a hat will be essential and even that may not be enough to protect you from a severe pecking. However, today it was all about giving the loved one a nice fish, or in some cases, peddling a fish around the tern bazaars to try and tempt any mate who might be interested. There are also both Common Terns and Sandwich Terns present in much smaller numbers.

Eider Ducks also nest here, most of them close to the footpath but not necessarily in plain view. The females are superbly camouflaged and blend into the surrounding vegetation. The males just loaf around on the rocks - well they have earned a rest considering all the hard work they have put into breeding.

The usual suspects are present in smaller numbers than on Staple, Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemot are nesting. Even several Black-headed Gulls have managed to nest in what is tern chaos.

Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Pennington Marsh

Having had a day out on the Cuckmere and found, much to our dismay, that similar to other locations it was devoid of birds, we decided that a day at Pennington was in order. Especially as my birding companion had visited there some weeks ago and reported that there was a veritable cornucopia of avian life. So, when we arrived we were dismayed to find that the water levels in the lagoons were at a very low level and it was immediately apparent that very few birds were present.

The targets for the day included Black Tern, a possible elusive Long-billed Dowitcher and some close up views of Curlew Sandpiper. Alas, the well laid plans of mice and birders often go awry. Having watched the Dunlin and Ringed Plovers move slowly towards the sea wall as the tide approached, boredom set in and we made our way to the "jetty" on the beach in front of Pennington Lagoon. This was the reported location of the juvenile Black Tern, as we approached all we could detect were a few Turnstones and some obliging Pied Wagtails.

Then, thanks to some local birders, we located two juvenile terns on the poles to the left of the jetty. It was at this point wishful thinking and poor birding skills set in, as in real time we corporately incorrectly identified several birds. My excuse is that they were distant, I only had my bins and that "Collins" was in the car. We knew that we had seen the Black Tern and recorded it, but confirmation of other birds had to wait until post visit analysis could be carried out on the large amount of photographs we had captured.

Anyway, below are a representative set of record shots, taken at long distance. The salutary lessons that I have learned are - never jump to conclusions and that the plumage of juvenile terns is remarkably variable.