One bird was the centre of attention, an orange-billed tern that was seen from the Stuart Line Cruise as it passed Warren Point late morning. Soon picked up roosting on a buoy mid estuary before making occasional feeding trips to the estuary mouth. Its identity remained unresolved with but as the tide rose it moved to a buoy nearer Cockwood and even fed in The Bight, confirming it to be a Lesser Crested Tern, just the tenth UK record.
 |
| Lesser Crested Tern - Kevin Rylands |
 |
| Lesser Crested Tern - Dave Boult |
No doubt the bird reported briefly on the Axe on Monday, it remained on the buoy until at least 4.40pm when the light had all but gone.There is no access to the Golf Course, so best viewed from Cockwood or Warren Point.
A completely unexpected second for the Recording Area and Devon, following a bird here on 17-20 July 1985. A record of a Lesser Crested or Royal Tern here on 19 Dec 1987 is an interesting parallel to the days events.
Earlier in the day there were 17 Common Scoter and four Pintail were offshore, a Grey Wagtail and a Shoveler were on the Main Pond and the Yellow-browed Warbler was still present and elusive.
 |
| Shoveler - Jim Summers |
 |
| Yellow-browed Warbler - Jim Summers |
186. Lesser Crested Tern
No comments:
Post a Comment