The common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a summer visitor to the shores of Dorset and is seen here both as a breeding species and as a passage migrant. Long distance travellers, they spend our winter months far away in west Africa with some going as far south as southern Africa and return in our spring to nest around most of the British coast although scarce in the south west and west coast of Wales.
It is quite easy to distinguish the common tern from the sandwich tern that also nests on Brownsea because it is smaller, it has a red bill and lacks the sandwich tern's scruffy hair cut. It is much harder however, to tell the common tern from the Arctic tern as the Arctic tern has no black tip to its bill, otherwise they are virtually identical. During the months of migration we get both species passing through and so quite often the exact identity is unknown and they are then informally called comic tern's, honestly, no joke! The common tern is also informally known as the sea swallow, not just because it migrates like the swallow but because of its pronounced forked tail and swift flight.
The weekly reports show the first arrivals in Dorset coming in during week 14 in mid-April and by week 17 in early May movement is at its peak. After regular reports from breeding sites here in June and July the autumn outward movement seems to take place during August with a few lingering birds being seen through until week 42 in October.
Common tern nest on the lagoon in Brownsea, on the scrapes at Lodmoor and in the Swannery at Abbotsbury. There are also a good number of reports from Ferrybridge although this is not, as far as I know, a nesting location but more a good place to see them on migration. They can be seen at several sites near the main locations as they seek small fish to take back to their young.
For common tern as a new addition to your Dorset list take the ferry across to Brownsea Island in June or July and go the Mac Hide by the lagoon and see common terns just a few feet away from you.
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