One good Tern ?

Dunlin, Draycote Water

Ringed Plover

Wednesday 8th Sept. 2010

Went to Draycote Water again this morning in the hope of adding Little tern to my County year list. It was quite misty over there which I took as a good sign the bird might still be there. There was little wind as the process of scanning the reservoir began. A Little Gull and 3 Juvenile Black terns was a good start. The visability improved and it was good to see the Red necked Phalarope still there having escaped the attentions of roosting gulls. I met up with Steve Cawthray, a stranger to these parts, but anxious to add the Phalarope to his County year list. We searched for some considerable time during which we kept a look out for the Little Tern, before we finally relocated the Phalarope. We had one or two sightings of possible Little tern but all very distant and we dismissed them as Common tern. Steve provided lunch in the form of half a large Pork pie which I was very grateful for before he left to organise a work party at Ladywalk N.R.

I wandered back towards Rainbow corner. There were 3 Ringed Plover and a Dunlin on Hensborough Bank. A Hobby appeared briefly no doubt eyeing up the large flock of House Martins for a possible meal. On Draycote Bank a tern flew past quiet close which I instinctively tried to photograph as it went past. I thought no more about it until met up with Bob Hazel who mentioned amongst other things that he'd recently seen the Little tern again and that what I had assumed at distance was a Common tern had in fact been the Little tern. We picked out a small tern which kept landing on the water amongst groups of Black headed Gulls. The tern did indeed look small in comparison but at such distance I felt unable to make a positive identification.