Terns in Northumberland June 2024

I had been meaning to make a trip to Northumberland for a few years to hopefully photograph Roseate Terns around Coquet Island their UK stronghold but I was not sure if the boat trip from Ambvle took you close enough to the Island to get any images then in June a Bridled Tern appeared on Coquet and organised and general boat trips with Puffin Cruises http://www.puffincruises.co.uk/ seemed to be getting good views of the terns so I booked a trip on the evening of June 25th, boat running at 17:00 at high tide and the weather forecast seemed to be sort of OK. As it was only a one hour boat trip the tern colony at Long Nanny was an obvious addition to the day being only 30 minutes away and with the added attraction fo the female American Black Tern nesting close to the warden’s hut, paired to a male Arctic Tern one of the most bizarre bird pairing occurrences ever.

The Bridled Tern was long gone but at least I had images of the one on the Farne Islands taken back in 2013 on another tern foray by boat. Driving up to Northumberland the weather was getting hot and sticky at 23C but on arrival at the coast there was a pleasant sea breeze and some cloud. The rip off UK car park demanded £6:50 for 3 hours which was in hindsight never enough and I could have parked another 1Km away for free all day, again knowledge in hindsight. The pleasant 1km walk through the dunes revealed a few Dark Green Fritillaries but with limited time I wanted to get to the terns and gave the butterflies rather short shrift.

I took only the Canon R6 amrk 2 and the newly acquired Canon RF 200-800 lens determined to test its suitability and ability to focus from a moving boat. It is proving to be a great lens but the minimum focus is nothing like the RF 100-500 and hence the Fritillary shots were a bit distant.

Dark Green Fritillary Long Nanny June 2024

Long Nanny looking north to Beadnell Northumberland with Arctic Terns on the beach in the foreground

Approaching the tern colony the noise is intense and Arctic Terns are really up close to the viewing point by the warden’s hut with one bird that regularly perches on the post by the hut being quite aggressive and offering some AF challenges at close range. The 200-800 lens was really useful with the zooming out option often necessary when birds were really close. The light was not at its best being around midday with heat shimmer but I liked some of the images of birds fighting high abover the breeding colony. Below are a large selection of images taken from the viewpoint and also down on the beach.

Arctic Tern Long Nanny June 2024 with Canon RF 200-800 and Canon R62

The female American Black Tern was initially sitting on its hybrid eggs but later the male Arctic Tern came in and the ABT went off to the beach for a wash and brush up and then went to the sea presumably to fish with a long wait for it to return to produce some decent flight shots but when she eventually did come back in the male appeared reluctant to leave the eggs and this allowed several photo opportunities as the ABT flew round and round in front of the VP attempting to land. Below are a series of images; she had lost several tail feathers presumably in a battle as it was not normal moult but a few white feathers were appearing on the head and the flight feathers were somewhat worn and brown tinged in the good light.

female American Black Tern, Long Nanny Northumberland June 25th 2024

By mid afternoon the weather was going down hill with increasing thick cloud from the north-west and it was distinctly cooler. I headed down to Low Hauxley where I have watcher fishing Roseate Terns from the beach in the past looking towards Coquet Island but all the birds were well out apart from this second calendar year Artic Tern and a few Sandwich Terns.

Coquet Island looking across from Low Hauxley - the 200-800 lens has to double as a landscape lens

second calendar year Arctic Tern Low Hauxley June 2024

The Glad Tidings III the Puffin Cruises boat that goes around Coquet Island; the crew were great at getting close to birds and offered an educational commentary - birds seem to accept the boat and you get very close to Puffins and Guillemots on the water. On the way out I picked up five Manx Shearwaters heading south and got a few record shots below.

Manx Shearwater off Coquet Island June 2024

seabirds south end of Coquet Island June 2024

Bridled Guillemot Coquet Island June 2024

Being a general trip for tourists there is a mix of natural history on offer including entertaining seals but it was the Roseate Terns that I was really interested in and although views were excellent and pretty close I was pleased I had the 200-800 lens and you are always left wanting longer to make the most fo the photo opportunities available. As noted the light was very poor and hence my ISO’s were up with the moving boat also needing decent shutter speeds but overall I was very impressed with how the 200-800 lens performed and of course I knew how good the AF on the R62 is so that was not really a surprise but moving birds, moving boat and moving people all added to the challenge. It would be good to go back and I am amazed that no-one has organised a dedicated tern photography trip on this boat as was done with the Bridled Tern twitch.

All in all a great little trip in spite of the light and the Roseate Terns were superb.

the Lincolnshire coast August 31st to September 3rd 2024

a weekend in the Lake District