More Tern action

I was doing a duck count on the reserve this morning and picked up the juvenile Little Gull at ARC that Martin had seen yesterday. There was another or the same juvenile seen on Burrowes during the morning. After some rain during the night the early morning felt very humid and it was quite tiring going around the reserve. The White-winged Black Tern was still showing in front of the Firth lookout and was a bit closer than yesterday although the hazy conditions made for tricky photography. 

I didn't think it was worth taking any shots of it in flight due to the hazy conditions.

Whilst standing at Firth a flock of seven Black-tailed Godwits flew in and landed on the exposed mud.

Black-tailed Godwits

At Dengemarsh and almost at the end of the duck count, I met up with Martin who had just left Dengemarsh hide but decided to join me back in the hide. It wasn't too long before Martin located a juvenile Caspian Gull that he had found earlier. I think this might be the first juvenile Caspian Gull that I have seen. Needless to say it was about as far from the hide as it could get.

Juvenile Caspian Gull

After finishing my duck count I would come back to Firth around late afternoon, when hopefully the light conditions might be better.

By early afternoon it had clouded over and a SW breeze was blowing through the screen at Firth however, the White-winged BlackTern and a Black Tern were sat on the mud at Firth.

Dave Scott shot this excellent video of the White-winged Black Tern.

After a while a second Black Tern appeared and at times all three marsh terns were feeding together and relatively close, best observed from Makepeace hide. I couldn't get all three in one shot but did manage two.

Juvenile White-winged Black Tern and Black Tern

Two juvenile Black Terns