I can't remember when I first went to Cemlyn Bay on Anglesey. I suspect it was a Haloe Ornithologists Club trip in the mid eighties. I certainly first twitched a bird there in 1988. Since then I've visited many times. It's a beautiful, magical place. Sitting on the shingle beach by the lagoon watching terns zoom overhead carrying food to their youngsters on the two islands is a joyful experience.
Perhaps more than any other tern colony in the UK, the Cemlyn tern colony seems to attract rarer species. My first (and only UK) Bridled Tern was here in 1988, then in 2005 Sooty Tern (although that was first seen on the nearby Skerries) and a putative Cabot's Tern in 2006. In wider Anglesey I've also seen Forster's Tern and American Royal Tern, and in neighbouring Gwynnedd another Royal Tern sp (possibly an African Crested and my 500th UK species in 2009). Then there was the Elegant Tern, with the UK's first record at Porthmadog in 2002 (although I'd also dipped in in Devon earlier in the year). There's nowhere like North Wales for rare terns, and Cemlyn is the epicentre.
These-days Cemlyn also forms part of old friend Mark Sutton's patch. Mark has worked the area hard recently and turned in to something of a rarity finder there and elsewhere. Fair play to him for putting the effort in. Mark struck gold (or orange) again on Sunday 4th July with an 'orange-billed tern' in the Sandwich Tern colony.
It was rapidly identified as an Elegant Tern. Only the fifth UK record but nowadays the most expected of the various orange-billed species, which is truly remarkable for a species with a normal range of the eastern Pacific Ocean; the nearest breeding birds should be in California. Early European records of this species were considered so unlikely that it eventually took DNA sampling to prove the birds were indeed Elegant Terns and not some form of hybrid. It was only possible to collect DNA as a pair settled to breed in eastern Spain in 2009. Since then there have been one or two pairs breeding annually, no increasing the number of birds in Europe gradually, and this year a pair has also settled on the Atlantic coast of France and is currently raising two young. A third adult was reported with the French pair recently and it is perhaps this bird that has moved to Anglesey. How this modest colonisation has happened is hard to fathom, the species remains rare on the eastern seaboard of the USA let alone crossing the Atlantic.
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| Elegant tern normal distribution. How on earth have they colonised Europe?! |
It was Thursday 8th July before I was free to make the familiar journey to Anglesey, joined by Mark Payne. It was a glorious sunny evening as we parked up, then waked the short distance down the shingle ridge to join the one other birder present. All the terns here spend long periods out at sea fishing, so there's always the possibility of a long-wait. This time we were fortunate thought, the splendid ELEGANT TERN was immediately on view and remained so for most of the next couple of hours, usually sat on top of a wooden tern nesting box. It spent most of it's time vigorously displaying with a Sandwich Tern, so presumably they are pairing up. It seems too late for a breeding attempt this year, but there's a distinct possibility it will return next year and the UK's first nesting attempt (albeit a mixed pair) could be on the cards.
There's plenty of other interest at Cemlyn, watching the comings and goings of Arctic Terns and Common Terns as well as the Sandwich's provided entertainment and an opportunity to rattle of endless flight shots. A single adult Roseate Tern was eventually found, but mostly stayed hidden; my first of this beautiful species for several years. There were numerous fledglings around, and both they and their accompanying adults could be remarkably tame. Offshore at least 3 Black Guillemots were in the bay, and Little Egrets fed on the lagoon. A lovely evening out.
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