A Rosy Afternoon (1 Viewer)

Ian F, Mark Hows and myself got together at St Mary's Island (Northumberland) for an afternoon watching Roseate Terns

Just after meeting Ian, two Arctic Skuas flew past offshore, both pale phase adults.

A scan of the usual tern gathering area revealed none at all, but only moments later, the distinct 'chuwit' call of a Roseate Tern came from a couple hundred yards to the left, and looking that way saw a small group of about 15 or 20 terns. Checking through this flock revealed two adult and a juvenile Roseates, the juvenile conspicuous with its black barring on the mantle, and the adults by their pale mantle and hint of pink on the breast. The two adults had different bill patterns, one with the bill still nearly all black with only a hint of red at the base, the other well into the late summer pattern with the entire basal half of the bill red. A lifer for both Ian and Mark.

More terns started to arrive, with by now about 50 Common Terns and probably four Roseates, when suddenly a juvenile Black Tern - quite a scarce bird this far north - appeared flying down toward the roost and joining them, another lifer for Ian.

With another three or four local birders joining us, it became a sufficiently large group to get holidaymakers curious, and a few had a look through scopes to see the terns.

Later on Ian had to go, but a last scan of the roost revealed NINE adult and THREE juvenile Roseates, plus the Black Tern, among about a hundred Common Terns.

Other coastal birds present included Grey Heron, Eider, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover (about 300), Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, GBB Gull, Kittiwake and Sandwich Tern.

Michael

The Black Tern and Eider would be lifers for me. Thanks for the summary of the day, I magined myself standing with you all surrounded by dying Sea Pinks & Campion and lush grasses. Am I close?

A fine couple of hours. A shame though that I had to leave before the tide pushed the birds close in.

It was nice to meet Michael and Mark in addition to the two lifers for me of Roseate and Black Tern. I'd have struggled without Michael's guidance and still did with the Roseate's as my photos are of juvenile Commons!

This was on top of seeing another lifer this morning locally, the Lesser Yellowlegs. Hopefully there will be another tonight when I try to see some Nightjars.

It was a little windy for photos but here is the Black Tern.

Hi Andrew,

Andrew said:

I magined myself standing with you all surrounded by dying Sea Pinks & Campion and lush grasses. Am I close?

Click to expand...

Sadly not - tarmac & concrete promenade / sea wall and mown ryegrass on the slope up to the car park :-C

Used to be better in the long ago before they built the promenade. Those days, the grass was weedy and attracted Snow Buntings in the winter.

Michael

What a blissful day you all had, i never tire of watching Terns, and well done on finding a Black Tern, a really enjoyable report of your days birding, just wish i was there with you instead of working in a stuffy office.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Sounds like a fab day, Roseate Tern and Lesser Yellowlegs would have been lifers for me and if you see Nightjars tonight then that's a third! Roseate Tern has still never put in appearence up here!

Andrew, haven't you seen an Eider? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying patronise at all (you'll have seen dozens of common species that I haven't). But this is exactly what I love about this forum. What's a lifer to one person is an every day bird to another, somewhere else in the world. Come here at any time to see Eider but I insist you come to Reykjavik harbour in March and you'll see Eiders in rafts stretching as far as the eye can see. You've also got a very high chance of King Eider and Gyr Falcon at the same time! My God, am I really looking forward to the Icelandic winter? It's time to go home I feel.

E

Edward, that is okay. I am not feeling patronised and you are right about the Forum having people who have different common birds. I expect to see one this winter off Dawlish Warren. I tried all last winter and failed (wrong time, wrong places). Perseverence will see me right.

Glad You all made contact with each other and the Terns, but hay lads getting a Black tern when im at work thats not fair talk about rubbing it in.
Good luck on the Nightjars Ian, let us Know how you get on.

Michael the way you describe the viewpoint makes it sound like an urban jungle.

After an already memorable day, the evening was a perfect finish. Since you asked I'll post this here too.

I met up with member Hutch at 8.00 pm and after a short chat we set off following the directions given by Smeltmill. Thank you Gordon, they were spot on.

It was a beautfiful evening after a warm sunny day, we had clear skies and no wind. We'd been sat twenty minutes when a couple with three Newfoundland dogs came past and put us wise to a large tree on the skyline where the Nightjars roost. We'd heard one as they approached but after a short wait we heard Nightjar begin their Churring in earnest just as dusk began to fall. It wasn't long before they began investigating our location and by 9.10 pm we saw our first bird twisting and diving against the skyline. Our second sighting followed five minutes later when one came straight at us until it veered off at 20 yards giving superb views and another followed twenty minutes later when it flew directly over head, but with the moon not having risen it was pretty dark by then and it was just a shape against the sky. Churring was pretty much constant by then, emanating from trees along the edge of the glade. We stayed until 10.00 pm before making our way back to the cars.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Night Hawks is a pretty good description as their shape and movements certainly reminded me of the acrobatic hawks of day time.

Sounds fabulous Ian. Nightjar is one of the British birds I want to see most of all. I'll be in England the last weekend in August but I fear that it will be too late to see them, or will it? And how about the Roseates in Northumberland? When do they leave?

I'm sure you'll find Eider this winter, Andrew. It's one of those overlooked common birds here, exquisitely beautiful if you give them a chance, but mostly you just give them the barest glance, like Blue Tits in Britain. If Blue Tits were a rare vagrant people would travel hundreds of miles to see those colours.

E

Hi Edward,

It was certainly worth the night time trip. I thought it was already a bit late to be still seeing them, but I don't really know when they move on. With the Summery weather they may even be a round a while longer than ususal if it's the weather that spurs them to migrate, so you could be in luck. If you're up this way then let me know as I am rest days myself that weekend or perhaps someone on Bird Forum may be able to help out with a location nearer to where you are visiting. I should think the further south you're visiting the more chance they will be still around - so says a non-expert !

I think the Roseates will still be around as they have only just started to move from the breeding area. Michael will be able to help out on that. I need a revisit myself to improve my ID of them. Despite Michael's assistence in lining up the scope for me, my photos of them still turned out to be juv. Common Tern - my fault not his. I'll be back up there next week, as it's pretty close to hand for me. Roseates do 'tern' up (sorry) on Teesmouth but I need to be able to tell them apart before I try for them down here

Andrew, you'll have to get up this way one day as Eider's are around pretty much throughout the year, even on Teesmouth.

Hi Edward,
No problem with the Roseates, there's usually at least some still around until about 10th-15th September, sometimes later. Let me know if you want to come up here (should I say down here, when it's from Iceland?) for them. The one day I can't manage is Sunday 31 Aug, as I'm on an 8 hour pelagic in the North Sea that day!

Hi Ian,
Let me know when you want to have another crack at them, maybe try to aim for a different high tide time

Michael

Thanks for that Michael,

I'll have to check my shifts, but I shuld think it will be next Friday at the earliest.