02/05/2022 Pennington Flash

Arctic Tern: Seeing an early report of a little tern at penny I decided to pack up the family in the car and spend the morning locally. 

With Dawn, my mum and Autumn in toe we set off and publed into John Tymon and were soon joined by Colin Davies. 

 

Before the baby got bored we set off with the bribe of an ice cream and a ply on the park (while I go togg some tern). 

These magnificent polar travelers are known to hold the record for the longest migration of any animal in the world, annually making the journey from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. 

One particularly committed tern made the trip in nearly 60,000 miles, or more than twice the circumference of the planet. Terns rack up all those miles by meandering across oceans and continents rather than flying directly north or south.

During their summer passage they make regular stops to large inland lakes such as Pennington Flash to feed before moving on northwards. 

Little Tern: The little tern remained pretty distant and before I arrived on the other side of the lake the bird had presumably moved on with a  small group of Arctic tern  around noon. 

24/04/2022 Pennington Flash

Arctic Tern:  Excellent day ended with these marvoulls terns at penny, blown in on the strong easterly winds they came as a small flock of Arctic and a few common.  

Typically hey never stopped, whizzing past and feeding on the main lake they were best viewed from the northern bank near the rucks.  

Common Tern: I took my mum and  Autumn with me, along with the promise of a lolly ice and a trip to the park.  Autumn was really well behaved and was happy to walk all around the the other side of the lake and watched me take photos of the birds while sitting with me mum. 

The common terns came a little closer which gave me better opportunities for some more infocus shots. 

Really end this little trip out, not too far from where I live, some loved ones in toe and some great birds. 

Greater Scaup: The day before I this very smart looking greater scaup. It was showing really well off the spit at Horrocks Hide associating with a small flock of tufted ducks. 

More cautious  than the tufties it never came super close, but still good to see. 

31/08/2021 Hornsea mere, East Yorkshire

Arctic Tern: Take a look at this stunner, lacking pigment within its feathers making it pure white this leucistic Arctic tern was a sight!  It stood out like a beacon even from the otherside of the mere.

The bird has taken up residence at Hornsea Mere for a few weeks now, joining the increasing numbers of little gull feeding on the newly emerging lake fly. 

When I arrived the bird was nowhere to be seen, not resting on the jetty or feeding over the water,, not a sign of it. 

Local bider Nick Lawman was also searching and scanning the water for the bird.  

Not before long I pointed it out as it was hawking close to the reeds on the far side of the mere, the bird also came over and rested on the jetty albeit for a very short time. 

Chatting to Nick we decided to rent a rowboat and take the opportunity to get a little closer to both  the tern and the little gulls. 

The boat rental can be done card or cash at the cost of £5 each and is manned by two of the nicest blokes. 

Little Gull: Hornsea Mere is famous for its little gull roots with thousands of birds attending at anyone time and many remaining throughout the day. There was still over 200 birds present while I was there mid morning.

Over the next few weeks, thousands of these small charismatic gulls make their way down the North Sea from their breeding grounds in Scandinavia and the Baltic.

So we headed out on to the open water, I rowed out not in a particularly straight line, slow and steady we made it over to the side where we last saw the tern. 

Not long after we arrived we drifted into the shallows and had to use the ores to push ourselves back out onto the water.  

The tern reappeared and put on a magnificent display as it flew up and down the front of the reeds before whizzing right past our boat and across the mere out of sight. 

The little gulls were also busily feeding around our small boat. With a couple of smart looking juveniles and even a near full summer plumage adult sporting a near perfect back hood. 

They were plucking flies from the top of the surface of the water, hawking right in front of us. 

I didn't realise how difficult it would have been out on the boat, sure physically rowing the boat was difficult and tricky but that I did expect. But the wind was affecting the water and the boat was bobbing up and down which made it particularly difficult to hold the camera steady!

Nick rowed back, and in all fairness he did a much better job of it then I did. Faster, straighter and he didn't find it all that difficult to turn the boat. 

I have to say I really enjoyed this mini-adventure, OK the photography opportunities weren't great and it was much more difficult than either of us originally anticipated, but we did get closer to the tern and the gulls. 

Big thanks again to Nick whos rowing silks were just the ticket and allowed me to get some extra snaps of the gulls on the water. 

Arctic Tern: If you chose not rent a boat then it's worth waiting alongside the jetties as the gulls rest on here throughout the day and the tern can make an appearance here too. 

03/06/2013 Farne Islands, North Sunderland

Bridled Tern: A 1am start, two ferry crossings and a 466 mile round trip from Chester to Manchester and then  Manc to Farne.

But what a AWESOME day!

Once again we struck lucky as we arrived early and decided to jump ship and get the early 6am crossing from Seahouses to Farne.

The ferry crossing was brilliant we were surrounded by hundreds of Puffin,Guillemots and Kittiwake. We also spotted Gannets, Razorbills and the ships captain spotted two Manx Shearwater, but unfortunately I missed them.

As soon as the ferry landed we saw the bride tern roosting within a giant flock of Arctic Tern. The bird then flew right passed us and landed just a few meters away giving us some spectacular views.

Obviously Scott, Liam and I were made up and grinning from ear to ear, not only because this bird is the first twitchable bird since 1988 but the fact we bagged the bird so early as Mr Payne and co were booked on the 9am ferry and had to wait almost 4 hours before catching a glimpse of the bird.

Ringed Plover: Other highlights included this Ringed Plover which was happily watching all the twitchers marveling at the Bridled Tern.

Arctic Tern: The Farne Islands are famous for its summer breeding seabird colonies and are home to over 100,000 pairs of breeding seabirds, including 55,000+ pairs of puffins.

Although I think its the Arctic Tern colony which the Farne's are most famous for,they can be tolerant of people however, that may not be quite the right word for the Arctic Terns.

They have a very aggressive side as they try to protect their nests from anyone who comes too close.

They do this by dive-bombing unsuspecting folk like this ranger and pooing all over their heads and shoulders as they pass through their nesting colonies, not something to be forgotten in a hurry!