Caspian Tern at The Mere

 I can't start this update any other way than with the year's highlight (to date anyway) of a Caspian Tern at Hornsea Mere. 

 

It was sighted yesterday morning (Saturday 25 June) on the spit to the west of Swan Island and stayed until about 12:35, giving reasonable views when it took off to feed. We got a few very distant photos via digiscoping of the bird on the spit.

 

Today however was much better as the bird flew up and down the Mere many times during feeding forays. 

 

Only the fourth record for the Mere and it was popular, with many visitors arriving to see it.

Caspian Tern over Hornsea Mere

Caspian Tern over Hornsea Mere

Caspian Tern flying behind a Common Tern on a buoy

The last image's quality is a bit iffy but I thought I'd include it for size comparison. Turns out the size of the Caspian Tern isn't obvious on this photo 😉

 Also this morning at the Mere a rare Four-legged Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus quatropin) made a brief appearance before disappearing into the ether of my imagination 🤣🤣

Chroicocephalus quatropin

This morning started off almost a white-out with thick fog and a cooling north easterly breeze, this was ideal for some atmospheric photos.

Yesterday morning before the Caspian Tern was found, I was watching a few Sandwich Terns off the sea front catching fish. Again they were distant and image cropping was necessary to get a recognisable photo.

Sandwich Tern with fish

The rest of the week was pretty mundane compared to the weekend but a few sightings were captured on the camera. 

Song Thrush

Juvenile Reed Bunting

As above

Sedge Warbler song flight

Sedge Warbler song flight

Butterflies were very well represented through the week with the emergence of Meadow Browns. Large Skippers continue their presence along with Painted Lady and Common Blue.

Painted Lady

Large Skipper

 

 

Large Skipper close up showing a very long tongue

As above

Common Blue

Tufted Vetch is providing the latest new source of food for bees and invertebrates along the Mere south side, as well as looking good.

Tufted Vetch hosting a Common carder bee

Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca)

I'll close off this post now as there are more than enough photos to cope with for one update. More soon.