Back In The Spotlight.

To be honest I wasn't fit to be out on Friday, and I actually played my part as a so called birder only by half. I was well on the way down with a virus of sorts and by now I'm almost on the deck with it....but enough of this irrelevant dribble for a birding blog.

The Conder Tern.

Common Tern and nest box. Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

Common Tern. Conder Pool. 22 May 2015. Pete Woodruff.

It was nothing less than an absolute delight to find a Common Tern back on Conder Pool on Friday afternoon - a nice surprise - and was the first bird I saw on an otherwise almost deserted pool. 

The Common Tern is known for it's site fidelity and this one was within a couple of metres of last years nest, one past record of site fidelity within the species is of a pair faithful to the same site for 17 years which only came to an end when one of the birds died. At one point my bird on Friday was joined briefly by another, but by then I was viewing from the fence at the west end of the pool and I actually missed it's arrival to join it's mate, but I reckon it almost certainly came in with a fish and presented it to her in early courtship behaviour which takes place on the ground. 

The Common Tern can begin egg laying in mid-May, though last year they didn't arrive on Conder Pool until eight weeks later in mid-July yet still had a successful breeding season here....so it's fingers crossed for a second excellent breeding record on Conder Pool in 2015.

Other sightings noted. 

Something of another spectacle was of at least 100 'hyrundines' hawking over Conder Pool in the murky damp mist of Friday afternoon, half this number were House Martin, with Sand Martin, Swift, and Swallow. About 6 House Martin were flighting around the River Conder/River Winds/Cafe d' Lune area but I saw no nest activity at either of the properties.

Driving along Jeremy Lane a bird on a fence post had me jumping to attention, until it turned out to be a Reed Bunting. At Cockersands, a large number of waders were again in the Abbey Farm field distant as last Tuesday, I estimated up to 500 Dunlin, and 150 Ringed Plover. Plover Scar was deserted at high tide, and having seen a Wheatear I had to admit to defeat in the cold, misty, damp conditions.

This brief trip out last Friday was well rewarded by the reappearance of the Common Tern to put Conder Pool back in the spotlight yet again.