Whiskered Tern Therapy! Friday 14th May

The inevitable sad news that I'd been dreading came on Tuesday morning when I lost my Dad. Now I had to face the rest of my own life without him, a novelty that I wasn't relishing since we'd always been close. Fortunately I have Mrs Caley by my side and I have my love of birding to give me respite from my worries. My Dad wasn't a birder but he was always interested to hear about what I'd seen and where I'd been birding. He always enjoyed seeing my photos too. When I received the phone call I looked skywards and saw a single Swift fly overhead. I thought that was poignant, significant and a fitting tribute. 

I was living my life in a daze. Personal loss was a new experience for me. I am fairly pragmatic though so understood exactly what was happening so managed as best as I could. I went to work as usual and did my best. In the evenings I started to sort out the important stuff and spent time with my Mum. On Friday though, I had a day off and needed some space and air so Mrs Caley and I decided that some birding was in order. 

We had waited at home, unable to decide where to go, what to see. I hadn't looked at the bird news much over the past couple of days so didn't really know what was around. I saw that a Whiskered Tern was still in residence at Longham Lakes near Ringwood in Dorset and thought that going to see that would fit the bill. We'd missed a Whiskered Tern that had been found at Otmoor on a wet Friday afternoon in 2014. Stupidly and regretfully we had sat at home in the dry watching the heavy rain fall outside instead of donning the raincoats and venturing out to see the bird. We went before first light on the Saturday but the bird had gone. So now we had a chance of redeeming that mistake by travelling the hundred miles or so to see one. It wouldn't be a county tick, I doubt we'll ever get that chance again, but it would be a life tick. We had been to Longham Lakes once before, to twitch an American Black Tern, incidentally another bird that we'd missed out on in Oxfordshire, in October 2019 (read about that bird here).

American Black Tern, Longham Lakes, 07/10/2019

We arrived just before eleven o'clock, parked up easily by the hotel and walked the half mile or so to the Lakes. I knew that the Whiskered Tern would be somewhere on the largest lake, the same one that the American Black Tern had favoured. It was a typically overcast day although that was an improvement on our last visit on which it had rained throughout. My own mood was settled but still almost as gloomy as the skies. I felt sorry for Mrs Caley for having to put up with me but then I often wonder why she does! On reaching the gravel path that circumnavigates the lakes I noticed that the air was aptly full of Swifts, well it would be wouldn't it?

There was no immediate sign of the Whiskered Tern from the first viewpoint so we walked anticlockwise around the lake. The Swifts were flying so low that they were almost passing between us but for now I was concentrating on finding the Tern first. We reached a more open area, most of the side of the lake that we were on had a screening of trees, from where we could see much of the lake. I noticed some other birders stood by the waters edge and they were all looking in one direction. I followed their lead and found the Whiskered Tern stood resting on one of the orange buoys some hundred metres out.

Whiskered Tern

A voice hailed me and I turned around to see my good friend Jim there. I had managed to walk right past him without noticing him, proving that I must still have been affected and dazed by recent events. We caught up about recent birding trips and other stuff and I gained the gen on the Terns habits. Apparently it rested on the buoy periodically after making flights around the lake. In the hour or so that Jim had been present the Tern disappointingly hadn't flown too closely to the banks. Nevertheless it was a lifer for us, our third of the year, and our 175th species of 2021 in all. As we chatted the Tern took to flight but stayed well out of reach of my lens before returning to the buoy again.

I took some time to concentrate of photographing some of the Swifts which were pretty much all flying a circuit which involved them flying straight at us from various directions. I love trying to capture Swifts but it always takes time to get your eye in and to get the camera settings right. I imagined rather sentimentally that my Dad was amongst them and that he was having some fun by testing my skills to their limit. After half an hour or so my arms were in danger of dropping off from holding the camera aloft for so long.

Swift

The Whiskered Tern was flying again, presumably hunting small flies which it plucked from the waters surface in a style of dip feeding very akin to its close relatives, the Black Terns. I thought how incredible it was that the same lake had held two very rare Marsh Tern species in such a short period of time. Obviously Longham Lakes ticks the boxes for the Chlidonias genus of birds!

Although still fairly far out from the bank, the Whiskered Tern at least passed close enough for me to get slightly better than record shots. Superficially looking like a Common Tern but the breast and belly are darker grey than that species although this particular bird still retained some lighter winter feathers. The flight action and dip feeding action was very typical of a Marsh Tern species though, whereby the bird would fly several feet above the water then dip down to catch prey and then back up again.

When the Tern returned to the buoy for another rest, I had another chat with Jim and then rattled off some more Swift shots. The camera, by freezing the action, actually allows for the observer to see fast moving species like Swifts better than by just observing them as they race past. Swifts are incredibly dynamic and have large eyes and an equally large mouth which all enables them to snare their flying insect prey.

We were satisfied with the views that we'd had of the Whiskered Tern and began to consider moving on. There was a big part of me that still felt guilty about being out and having fun but I told myself that it was all good therapy and was helping me clear my incredibly muddled head. As we made to say cheerio to Jim the Tern was off the buoy again and this time was actually threatening to come within range to allow for some decent shots so when it did indeed do just that, I was ready. The bird even banked in front of us letting us see the full extent of the underparts. I was delighted to get such a good view. 

Now the Tern was so active we stayed around for a while longer. It didn't come as close again but did spend a bit of time feeding in a bay to the South during which we were afforded some different aspects and much dips by the bird to the water surface. It was a pleasure to watch the rare bird and great to add it to the life list after dipping the Oxon bird in 2014. It never ceases to amaze me how certain birds that you think you've missed out on then suddenly appear again one day. My only trouble was that I started birding in earnest too late in life so my own life list isn't huge although I am nearing the magic 400 number and should get there by next year or the one after.

After nearly three hours on site we left, looking forward to finding somewhere to go for lunch, which wasn't easy during the covid times. On the way back to the car I tried to get a hitherto unattained decent shot of a Swallow and failed again. There is something about Swallows that I just can't get a good photo of one no matter how hard I try. Still, I much prefer Swifts. Even more so now.

Swallow

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Brian James Truby 1939-2021. So long Dad, I'll miss you. XXX