Saturday 13th July 2024: Shoreham Rarity

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 This afternoon we were just sat at home debating about taking mum out for a drive somewhere, when news came through of a Caspian Tern on the RSPB reserve on Shoreham town centre. We immediately changed our plans and dashed round to the Norfolk Bridge, from where the bird was immediately visible amongst a flock of Black-headed gulls and a couple of Little Egrets. It looked enormous in comparison to the other birds, with a black cap and a disproportionately large orange-red bill, like a carrot stuck on a snowman! 

The bird stood in a small channel and bathed for a few minutes, splashing and flapping in the shallow water. It then dipped down behind the saltmarsh, but we were able to change our position to view this amazing bird again, before it relocated to the main river, near the tollbridge. 

There was quite a twitch of local birders, this being only the third sighting in the area, the last in May 2001. It was our first UK sighting of this species, although we had seen them previously in Eastern Europe, and a real privilege to have such a rare bird turn up on our local patch!

Caspian Tern, Shoreham-by-Sea


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