Tern, tern and tern again!

 Last night Paul, Jane, Dave Reed and I were joined by Marc Hughes and his son Aled to have a go at netting the high tide roost at Ynyslas. This year there are loads more terns than normal with unusual numbers of comic terns (170+) joining the 500+ Sandwich Terns present. There have even been a few Little and Black Terns and a lone Gull-billed Tern thrown in. Last nights high tide was a bit early in the evening so it wasn't quite dark enough to catch on the rising tide, even so, a total of 46 birds were caught comprising 25 Dunlin, 3 Knot, 3 Turnstone, 3 Oystercatcher, 1 Redshank, 1 Whimbrel, 8 Sandwich Terns (including 1 control), 1 Arctic Tern and (most of) 1 Common Tern! (-it didn't have an upper mandible!!)

Given the weather this year it is a long time since so many bird bags 

were called into use at the same time!

 

Juv Arctic Tern

A rare autumn Whimbrel. This juvenile was the 53rd we've caught so far this year but the only one since May!

Aled enjoying a late night Sandwich

A noteworthy observation was that the majority of the Dunlin were adults - this is very unusual in autumn catches at Ynyslas where the vast majority of Dunlin caught on Autumn passage are normally juveniles!

Off to have another go tonight before the windy weather returns and scuppers things for a while!