Elegant Tern, Cemlyn Bay 8 July 2021
THE LAST TIME I VISITED CEMLYN BAY ON ANGLESEY WAS 33 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, to see the popular and long-staying Bridled Tern (when it was still a very rare bird indeed!). I recalled that it necessitated arriving at first light, in time to overlook the tern colony on the tiny island in the lagoon there, before it left to go fishing. I think we might even have nodded off on the pebble beach tombola that encloses the lagoon while waiting for it to return hours later. I definitely remember what a lovely spot it is (and also thinking how sad it was that the view to the east is dominated by the horrible Wylfa Nuclear Power Station - why did we build so many of them in beauty spots, Heysham excepted of course!). So the chance to return and see the Elegant Tern found there a few days ago was too much to resist. Before the albatross the other day my most recent UK lifer was the Bearded Vulture (uncountable) and before that it was The Norfolk Eastern Yellow Wagtail so two opportunities within a couple of hours of home in a week is most unusual for me! Elegant Tern is still a true mega in Britain, with previous English records in 2002, 2005 and 2017, and one previous Welsh record, also in 2002. The Cemlyn Bay tern is one of the three seen in northwest France this spring (the other two are still there and breeding - quite astonishing for a bird of the Pacific coast of North America!).
The Elegant Tern tries to attract some attention with a small fish.
Just as in 1988 I arrived at dawn after dawdling along the North Wales so-called expressway with its at least one million 50mph speed limit sections and the Elegant Tern was already on show in the Sandwich Tern colony, strutting around in the long vegetation, sometimes only its super long, thin yellow orange bill visible as it threw its head back trying to get some attention from the Sandwich Tern ladies. Unfortunately they were probably all too far advanced in their breeding cycle to take any interest, the colony was full of well-grown Sandwich Tern chicks and even some flying juveniles. At 0610 it flew off and out to sea, returning at 0727 with a small fish in its bill. Now armed with a fishy offering, it became even more animated in its attempts to attract a Sandwich Tern mate, flying around in front of us several times as well. Eventually it gave up and spent some time resting before going back out to sea after another couple of hours. I enjoyed watching it for such a long time, against a deafening cacophony of the tern colony, with birds leaving and returning sometimes only inches over our heads. I heard the Sandwich Terns at Cemlyn number around 1,000 pairs, at what must be the best colony to watch in the UK, and there were smaller numbers of Arctic and Common Terns as well, including several second calendar year Arctics. Other interesting birds on the lagoon included three Dunlin, single curlew, Little Egret and Red-breasted Merganser and some oystercatchers with well grown chicks, fabuious stuff! A steady movement of gannets passed the mouth of the bay heading west.
Long slender bill with no gonydeal angle.
Longish shaggy crest and white rump just about visible in this image
Arctic Tern adult lined up with some Ox-eye Daisies growing on the shingle bank.