About Me

My photo
London, United Kingdom
This blog will contain pictures and information from my everyday encounters with nature in London and the surrounding areas. I will log details of the origin of each photograph thus recording what there is to be seen and where it was seen. I very much welcome anyone else who can upload photos and information about nature in London and the home counties. I work freelance in the film industry so have plenty of days off. I hope to update Monday to Friday and once on the weekend posting at around 19.30, I don't post on bank holidays

Thursday 5 May 2011

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

Common Tern
I photographed this Common Tern today at Amwell Nature reserve in Hertfordshire. Very close to the tern, I also photographed a Black-Headed gull which I will write about tomorrow. It is a possible to confuse the Common tern and Black-Headed Gull with but hopefully with the close photographs I’ve got you will see several clear differences. Only half the Common Tern’s head is black from the crown down, similar to the Arctic tern but you are incredibly unlikely to see one of these in London or the Home Counties. The Common Tern arrives in April and leaves in October. It is usually found on the coast but also in land around reservoirs. The Barnes Wetland centre in London has had sighting recently. Note the forked tale, like the Swallow, the Common Tern’s arrival is a sure sign spring has arrived. These birds will feed on surface fish in their sea colonies but the 3 or 4 I was watching today were skimming the canal surface for insects with turns and dives that made very good viewing.

No comments:

Post a Comment