Twists and terns

I took Jacob to Children's Church this morning with my Dad. Because my Dad is down for the weekend I didn't check out Ferry this morning. At around lunchtime news broke of a Temminck's Stint on Ferry found by a visiting birder - blinking typical, one of the few days I haven't checked there in the last three weeks. However luckily the bird was still there and I bumped into Ian while twitching it. Andrew remarked later that he was even more miffed as not only had he checked the Ferry every single day but several times a day. Standard visitng birding antics :-) As Garry used to call them - poachers :-)  

While we were watching the Temminck's there was a report of a Roseate Tern at Church Norton. There have been some strange goings on with Roseates recently with an atypical bird last weekend and then yesterday a report of one turned into a rather unsual dark billed Common Tern (maybe something on the longipennis cline?) found by Andy the Vicar. 

Ian and I decided to go and check out the latest report. The bird was last seen on the metal work and quite quickly Ian picked it out complete with a light pink flush visible at certain angles. I wanted to get a diagnostic flight shot and when it flew up Ian and I tried to track the bird. On looking at the photo it had a Common Tern underwing. Had we seen the dark billed Common Tern from the day before? Ian put out the news and then redacted the news. Then Marc, Bart, Andrew and Andy the Vicar (who I had last seen blessing the flock at Church) arrived. We relocated the candidate and everyone agreed it looked like a Roseate. Then it flew up and this time we got the diagnostic underwing pattern. We decided we had photographed the wrong tern before. Then Marc exclaimed that the bird had just flown up and started chasing another tern. We followed both the birds now chasing eachother in display like flight and indeed as they landed it was confirmed that they were two Roseate Terns! Then things got even more wierd when one of them sat next to yesterday’s dark-billed Common Tern which is presumably the bird that Ian and I had falsely tracked. 

So alls well that ends well and after several days of controversial Roseate Tern sightings there was now a displaying pair! In a further twist, literally as I am writing this, news has just come in that there are 3 Roseate Terns?! 

There was also Common Sand, Greenshank, 2 LRP, 82 Blackwits (a further increase) and 34 Avocet on Ferry and 3 Whimbrel at Norton. 

The moth trap was more lively last night with 7 NFYs. Thank goodness the northerly airflow has shifted to a southwesterly with improving temperatures ahead (but quite a bit of wind and rain in the forecast too).

Temminck's Stint (above and below)

Roseate Tern showing the diagnostic underwing pattern of black confined to the tip and a lack of dark border on the trailing edge of the underwing hand

Two Roseate Terns (bird on far left and bird second to far right) 

Roseate Tern (on right) with the dark-billed Common Tern (maybe something along the longipennis cline?)   

Dewick's Plusia to the Ni-lure. NFY.

Portland Ribbon Wave. Another NFY.

Rosy Wave- always nice to see. NFY

Hook-streaked grass-veneer Crambus lathoniellus. Another NFY. Also had Cypress Carpet, Vetch Sober and Buff Ermine as NFYs. Now on 131 for the year.  The Roseate and Temminck's puts me on 174 birds for the year- very unusual for birds to be ahead of moths by mid-May. 

Cream-spot Tiger

It's finally looking a bit more summer like in the garden with our butterfly beds flowering now

Jacob and I did a bit more bug hunting this afternoon, checking the survey mats in the wild ditch (above). Latest pan-species observations HERE