Sutton Bingham - Fri 14 Aug

Heavy overnight rain did not let up when dawn broke and it looked like a complete washout for the entire day, however, I was not to be put off and headed out to the reservoir for an hour just after breakfast. Arriving at about 8.20am I scanned the water from the northern causeway but failed to locate anything other than the "usual" species. After about ten minutes I noticed a flock of eleven birds arriving from the north-east over the dam and then above the reservoir and it soon became apparent that this was a flock of terns, but what kind? Some careful scrutiny over the next 15 minutes helped by relocating to the now open car park enabled me to confirm the identity as Arctic Terns, excellent stuff and probably not that surprising given the time of year and conditions. Just as the terns passed over me again I noticed a straggler and a quick count confirmed there were now twelve birds, and this new tern was smaller and darker...a Black Tern! Within a couple of minutes of the Black Tern joining the group of Arctic Terns the entire flock headed south in and was lost to view, so with the rain now hammering it down I decided to head home for a well deserved cup of coffee!