Lodmoor terns

Gull-billed and Caspian Tern have paid such fleeting visits to Dorset in recent weeks that I didn't even get the chance to go looking for them. So it was very decent of their White-winged Black cousin to hang around in Weymouth today long enough for me to watch Andy Murray get beaten at Wimbledon on TV and make my way there after.

I'd heard that the Weymouth reserves had been hit hard by flooding but was still unprepared for the extent of the water present at Lodmoor. The tern islands had flooded, causing havoc for the breeding colony, but at least some of the chicks had by tonight made it to the safety of some rafts, and the weather had improved markedly. The White-winged Black Tern landed briefly on a raft but was given short shrift by the Commons, who can be forgiven for not being very accommodating after their recent trauma.