I had been aware of the report of four Black Terns at Blashford Lakes late morning. I decided though to persevere with the search for the Marsh Fritillaries, feeling that they would stay for the afternoon. But when it became clear they were not about I decided to make the short journey to Blashford. The car park was closed and there were cars parked all over the area, but I managed to find a space. I walked through to the Tern Hide, hoping that they were still about and, more importantly, were close enough to the hide for some decent photographs.
Settling in there were two Black Terns sitting on posts, while the other two were hawking around the middle of the lake.
Apparently the behaviour was: they would fly out into the middle of the lake, hawk around for fifteen minutes then return to the posts.
The hide was full, not packed, but this meant other things were going to be pointed out and somebody managed to find a Little Ringed Plover on one of the banks of the islands. Not a classic photograph, but a record, and better than the head I got at Testwood and you can see the yellow eye ring.
It was then a case of watching the terns and enjoying the banter in the hide.
The black tern is not an easy bird to photograph, they are usually distant and heading past, or they are juvenile birds, so to get the chance to see these summer plumaged birds was a bit special.
The main body appears black, the wings shades of grey that can look a lot lighter in the sunshine.
There would be competition for access to the post , not just between the Black Terns, but the Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls.
Here you can see the variation in shades of grey and black.
Coming in to try and get on a post.
The posts were prime territory.
Showing the pale underwing.
There had been two Common Sandpipers about, one came on to the shore in front of the hide. It made a change from the Black Terns.
And so it was back to the Black Terns.
An outlier in a world of white seabirds, breeding Black Terns are a
handsome mix of charcoal-grey and jet black. Their delicate form and neatly
pointed wings provide tremendous agility as these birds flutter and swoop to
pluck fish from the water’s surface or veer to catch flying insects, much as a
swallow does.
As mentioned earlier, the posts were prime territory and were defended vigorously.
A Common Tern on one of the closest sticks to the hide.
One of the Black Terns having a good preen.
The Black Tern and two Old World species, the White-winged
Tern and Whiskered Tern, are known as “marsh terns” for their habit of breeding
in freshwater marshes.
The Black Tern is
very social. It breeds in loose colonies and usually forages, roosts, and
migrates in flocks of a few to more than 100 birds, occasionally up to tens of
thousands. These four birds were happy to feed together, although there would be some disputes.
A typical feeding pose, looking to pick insects or fish off the surface of the water.
My time was up, a great afternoon with one of those birds you rarely get to encounter like this.
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