Little Terns at Little Marlow

 I decided to visit Little Marlow GP on a dull drizzly Sunday morning, partly to check on the Common Tern Chicks.  On arriving on the viewpoint at the Point I soon found a pair of Little Terns, a scarce bird in the county.  I watched for an hour or two and they flew to the east side of the lake to fish but kept returning to the sand spit to rest.  I put the news out early on and a dozen or more local birders turned up to see these smart adults.  They are presumably failed breeders.

Little Terns - A pair alongside a Common Tern

Common Sandpipers - Three perched on a branch after being flushed with a Black-headed Gull alongside.  There were seven Common Sandpipers present no doubt heading south.

Common Tern Ringing

 After last years Bird Flu when several Terns died and none were ringed, this year there was a smaller colony but all seemed healthy.  There were about 18 adults Terns present and 11 chicks on two rafts.  Two of these were too small to ring but the other nine were ringed with a BTO ring and a green colour ring.  All were marked with characters in the series "Fnn" where "n" is a number.  The series starts with "F01".

Swan Support assisted by providing an inflatable boat with outboard and did the steering.

BTO ring being fitted by a licenced member of the Hughenden Ringing Group

Chick fitted with BTO and Green colour ring. 
The colour rings were funded by the Buckinghamshire Bird Club

About ten days later the first chicks had left the rafts.