Mega Tern Watching at Formby Point
By Tim Vaughan
Each summer, I give the beach at Formby Point a little more birding attention. On 25 July, I was pleased to find that the regular post-breeding tern roosts were beginning to form again. 525 Common Tern was pretty average but I was pleased to find an ad/2ndS Roseate Tern. Seaforth, visible five miles to the south, had noted a dozen ‘Rosies’ in recent weeks so this was half expected.
More surprising at Formby that day was an impressive flock of 1,130 Sandwich Tern, part of 1,662 present. In previous days, 1,800 Sandwich Tern were reported two miles away along the same shoreline (on the Alt estuary at Hightown), so clearly there were a fair few around. I was able to read the colour ring sequences on three of the Sandwich Tern that day, which is always an enjoyable way of building up information about the movements of these birds.
Subsequent days saw me checking the beach whenever I had some spare time. On 27 July, I realised that something unprecedented was occurring. There were at least 3,000 Sandwich Tern roosting and up to three Roseate Tern among the few hundred Common Tern. The roosting groups were not linked to the state of the tide nor time of day. 1,000 birds would be good, so to see three times that figure was great.
By 31 July, when the pager said no sign of the Elegant Tern at Cemlyn in Anglesey, I was intrigued. I checked extra hard at Formby on 31st but without success - it seemed a far-fetched hope. That said, I had tallied over 60 readings of different Sandwich Tern over the week and some had been 58 miles away at Cemlyn in previous days and weeks…
On 1 August, I checked the beach three times during the day. Noting plenty of colour-ringed Sandwich Tern kept me happy as did my first returning Ringed Plover and a splendid-looking juvenile Mediterranean Gull. I decided to scan through one further, small roost…oh, red colour ring on a Sandwich Tern…where was that bird?…Oh wow, Elegant Tern nearby! Of course, then the fumble to get proof – hand-holding my iphone against the scope. Yes, image secured…Now to get the news out. I couldn’t reach the other birder who patch watches here, so phoned the next nearest. I then phoned the RBA hotline with the news…MEGA ALERT! Now to watch the bird. The Elegant Tern then proved elusive. The tern flock flew off after my initial sighting. Ten birders came along during the evening and gained brief views when it reappeared.
On 2 August, it was reported at 0530hrs but it wasn’t until mid-afternoon that I relocated the Elegant Tern. I heard it calling and turned to see it fly by then drop onto the shore at close range and proceed to display to the gathered Sandwich Tern – just like I and many other birders had observed it do at Cemlyn 4-30 July.
Soon enough the Elegant Tern was lost to view again. Only one dozen birders arrived to try and re-find it. Such a mega-rarity but one that we’ve all now seen very satisfactorily – in Anglesey if not elsewhere. The near-mythical status of this species in the 1980s and 1990s, especially after that 1982 bird in Co.Down, Ireland seems so long forgotten. Back at Formby Point on 2 August, Little Tern, Arctic Tern, Roseate Tern amidst 1,267+ Common Tern, Mediterranean Gulls and several Little Gulls kept people interested. Far fewer Sandwich Tern were at Formby Point than through the week, so I walked the two miles along the shore to view the Alt Estuary at Hightown. Once there, I counted just over 4,000 Sandwich Tern roosting but only viewable at range and a further 1,000 along the shore/offshore. A birding pal, Dave Hardacre was viewing the flock from another, better spot and it was no surprise to hear the next morning that he found the Elegant Tern roosting there.
Tim Vaughan
4 August 2021
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