Black Terns at Grafham Water. August 2009.


There had been a report of 40+ Black terns at Grafham, so I started the search just after 7am. After picking out a couple of Black terns and time taken capturing other stuff on camera I decided to concentrate my search for the Black terns. I set up next to a hedge line and waited. Most of the terns were travelling against the wind from just beyond where I was, and feeding their way across to the opposite side of the reservoir before flying back across and starting again. They would eventually pass me in the hope of being close to capture on camera.


They were not to venture as close as the Common terns, tending to stay further out on the water, I had definitely seen double figures but could not be definite on the numbers due to their moving around. They had a definite 'jizz' as they flew and fed, totally different to the Common terns and harder to pick out due to their smaller size. I did manage to get some images of a couple of Black terns that were using the floating buoys alongside the Common terns, most were content on feeding though. A great few hours and my first images of Black tern to date.