The final part of the trilogy featuring the residents of the islands in front of the DWT Brownsea hides, covers the Common Terns. They are the last of the three species to arrive at the lagoon in the Spring, but also the quickest to settle down to their nest sites. It was good to see the first of the Common Tern chicks on the islands in front of the Avocet hide.
In the three years I've been volunteering on Brownsea and the various years before that when I've visited, it was easy to point out to visitors how to identify the two species of breeding Terns on Brownsea. You didn't need to focus on bill colour or the clean-cut or punk caps. Instead you could just say the Sandwich Terns breed on the islands in front of the Tern hide and the Common Terns were on the islands in front of the Avocet hide. But this year, there are a couple of pairs of Common Terns that have adopted nest sites on the Sandwich Tern islands. In the past, these islands have always been packed with breeding Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls, by the time the Common Terns are prospecting for nest sites. So, there is no space left on the Sandwich Tern islands.
This year there appears to be fewer breeding Black-headed Gulls and this has left space for these two pairs of Common Terns. It will be interesting to see how they fare. In previous years, the Common Terns have lost many of their chicks to the Great Black-backed Gulls that nest at the back of the lagoon. Perhaps these Common Terns will receive better protection from their Sandwich Terns neighbours.
I was pleased with the last photo. But it was clearly surpassed, when I got back to the quayside to catch the volunteer's boat back to Poole and found this Common Tern sitting on a quay post, right next to the jetty. I've not seen one this close before and it was quite happy to post for a few photos.
