The Future's looking Rosy for Europe's rarest breeding seabird.

            Roseate Tern is Europe's rarest breeding seabird but its fortunes are on the up.  In the 1970s there were just 16 breeding pairs on Coquet Island in Northumberland but this year there were a record-breaking 118 pairs.  Unlike the other European terns, Roseates like to nest in crevices and hollows which are often in short supply on their nesting islands.  They started putting nestboxes out in 2000 when the population was just 34 pairs.  Now there are 200 next boxes on specially built terraces and the population has reached its record 118 pairs (c350% rise since 2000).  This is Britain's only regular breeding site with just occasional birds nesting elsewhere.

That tiny little green device on the Roseate Tern's left leg is a datalogger.  Twenty of these were attached to Roseate Tern adults this summer on Coquet Island.  When they return to nest next year, the dataloggers can be retrieved and the data downloaded.  This will give an accurate map with timings of where each bird has spent its time.  This will be important in identifying their breeding season fishing grounds, plus their migration route, and the wintering grounds.  All of this information will be really useful in the conservation of Roseate Tern, the rarest breeding seabird in Europe.  For comparison of rarity the UK population of Roseate Tern is fewer than 125 pairs, whereas the Arctic Tern numbers 53,000 pairs.

The diagnostic features of Roseate Tern are long tail streamers, which are much longer than the wing tips when perched.  Also the bill is largely black, always with much more black on the tip than Common Tern.  In early spring they have a pink flush to the breast which gives rise to the name.  This preening adult was photographed from a boat just of Coquet Island in Northumberland.

Taken on: July 26, 2018

Tags:

Sterna

dougallii

Tern

Northumberland

Tim Melling « less

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