The whole family fancied a trip to Poole yesterday but the only one that wanted to go to Brownsea was me. And so I trudged disconsolately to this squalid little island with its smelly, noisy tern colony and gazed reluctantly at the irascible inhabitants and their bug-ugly chicks. As you can imagine, I had a thoroughly miserable time. A couple of Roseate Terns had been reported the previous day and to compound my disappointment they were still there. I was so bored I tried to fritter the time away thinking up contrived puns for blog post titles. And taking the odd photo of the Roseates. Quite frankly it was a relief to get the last boat home, which I almost missed - imagine being stuck there with the terns, the Nightjars, the Med Gulls, the Red Squirrels...
 |
| Roseate Tern - a very elegant bird in flight with long tail streamers |
 |
| The pure, wader like call was often a clue that the Roseate Tern was approaching |
 |
| A strikingly pale bird in flight, more so than on the ground it seemed |
 |
| Roseate Tern against Poole's urban backdrop |
 |
| A feisty bird which repeatedly knocked Black-headed Gulls off their perches |
 |
| Both birds bore metal leg rings |
 |
| One landed briefly on the unfenced island in front of the Macdonald hide |
 |
| It walked a few paces... |
 |
| ...and turned around - still difficult to get the whole bird with streamers in shot among the other terns and paraphernalia |
 |
| A cropped shot - the base of the bill, black in spring, should turn red as the breeding season progresses |
 |
| More vocalising - this time as a Black-headed Gull flew overhead |
No comments:
Post a Comment