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Fostering resentment but it turned out ok in the end

   
Forster's Tern


OK that’s pretty cringe worthy I would have to agree!

 

My alternative was “Passage to Arne” but I thought that it was too obscure.

 

So the resentment bit dates back to Thursday 6th April, the day before the long easter weekend. We had family around when news broke of a mega rare Forster’s Tern on a reservoir in Somerset. To say that the suggestion that I go and see it was unpopular would be an understatement but after sulking around for a bit I was told ”oh just go!!!”

 

It was the best part of a 2 hour drive from home and when I arrived there was a small huddle of birders looking out over the reservoir. I was told that it had flown off literately just before I arrived and although I stayed until near dark it did not return. A good candidate for dip of the year!

 

More recently what is presumably the same bird has been reported on and off along the Dorset coast. Its appearances were short, infrequent, and unreliable, hence my motivation to try for it was low. In the past week or so it has become more settled on the coast at Arne RSPB nature reserve and my good friends Nick and Anne saw it on Saturday. With a couple of other commitments the first day I could go was this Tuesday.  I left home just before 06:00 and arrived at Arne just after 09:00. Arne is a beautiful nature reserve with very mixed habitats, woodland, heathland and coastal and it’s been far too long since I last visited.

 

The bird had already been reported that morning sitting on its favourite spit at Shipstal Point a 20 minute woodland walk from the carpark. I met oxon birder Adrian Sparrowhawk

on the way who told me that the tern had been flushed off the spit by a Peregrine. I wasn’t too concerned as I thought it would settle again. On the beach there were perhaps ten other birders but no sign of the Forster’s. A small flock of Sandwich Terns were feeding in the distance and it was thought that the Forster’s was probably with them. After perhaps 30 minutes the Forster’s flew to the spit, dropped into the water a couple of times and then flew behind the lefthand headland.

 

Forster’s Tern in the UK is rated a Mega, i.e. an extremely rare vagrant,  with only  21 accepted records to the end of 2020. It is a common Tern in North America where it breeds inland on marshes before heading south to the Caribbean and northern Central America for the winter. The adult in summer plumage closely resembles our Common Tern but with longer tail streamers and legs and a different upper wing pattern. The Dorset Tern was a first summer bird and as such could be distinguished by its white crown, dark bandit like mask around the ear coverts, orange red legs and a dark and strongly pointed bill. The only possible confusion at a distance at Arne would be with the Sandwich Terns but seen well it was very different.

 

It soon flew back in and settled down on its favourite spit. Rather annoyingly from the viewing point it was somewhat obscured by grass around the corner of an inlet. As luck would have it I had chosen to wear wellies rather than walking boots and by wading a few feet out at the viewing point I could get a clear view of it. It was now late morning and the bird looked very settled and proceeded to lay down on the wet sand for a mid-day siesta so it seemed like a good time to go to the café for lunch.

 

An afternoon  stroll around Compton Common on the reserve failed to yield the Dartford Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers I had hoped for but had not really expected – wrong time of day at the wrong time of year. Birding was limited to a few juvenile Mipits and a small flock of Linnets with the males still in their smart summer red breasts. The common itself was a beautiful site with a carpet of  heather in flower and insects enjoying the abundant flowers everywhere – so different from the baren intensive agriculture landscape at home.



Compton Common


When I got home I checked how many Terns are recognised on the Uk list and  was surprised to see that there were 19 species of which I have only seen 12 so still plenty to go for! – see footnote.

 

Footnote 1 

 

Tern species on the UK list – I have seen the ones in red.

 

Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Lesser Crested Tern

Sandwich Tern

Cabot's Tern

Elegant Tern

Little Tern

Least Tern

Aleutian Tern

Bridled Tern

Sooty Tern

Roseate Tern

Common Tern

Arctic Tern

Forster's Tern

Whiskered Tern

White-winged Black Tern

Black Tern

 

Footnote  2


My blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!   


Comments

  1. Mark PidgeonAugust 3, 2023 at 12:11 AM

    Arne is probably my favourite reserve along with Titchwell :-)

    ReplyDelete

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