Common Tern, sterna hirundo, these wonderful delicate birds have long tails, which has resulted in them been nicknamed ‘sea swallows’.
You can see Common Terns throughout most of the UK from April until late August – September. They come to the UK to breed in colonies, which like most bird colonies are very noisy places, your best chance of seeing them is when they are feeding their young as they will fly great distances to find fish, the photo to the right shows a Common Tern, with a sprat in it’s mouth, returning to feed it’s young.
Thanks again to John Pethullis for giving us permission to use another of his wonderful photos.
