Suffolk – Sizewell – 11th August 2009

As mentioned in the previous account, things can get pretty quiet this time of year but I think one exception is the Tern. They all begin their long migrations and it is relatively easy to pick up most species en-route, often loitering around feeding or rest areas. One such area is the outfalls off shore from the Sizewell Power Station and this weekend we were not disappointed. Right on the shore line was a gathering of mixed aged birds, mainly consisting of Common Tern, then a number of juvenile Arctic Tern and finally two adult Black Terns still in summer plumage. These birds all continued to fish then return to the shore line for a good hour making long term identification study easy. Off shore there was the odd Sandwich Tern, the harder to identify Little Gull, as they were mixed with a larger population of juvenile Kittiwakes and adult Kittiwakes mainly roosted in the outfall towers. Interestingly, as the population of Herring and Black-headed Gulls grew the terns did move on, but reports the next day did show the same behaviour pattern.

Life bird count: 389 Year bird count: 226 Month bird count: 42