As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday, 1 July 2018

South coast RSPB reserve attracts rare American Royal tern



Pagham Harbour.
By Diana Challen

Published: 21:07 Wednesday 20 June 2018

A RARE American Royal tern has appeared at RSPB Pagham Harbour this week, which is believed to be a first for the UK mainland. RSPB Pagham Harbour, West Sussex, has gained a reputation for being one of the best locations to spot rare tern species, with threatened roseate and black terns briefly visiting last year. Thousands of visitors flocked to the site last June, when a rare elegant tern arrived with a breeding colony of sandwich terns. ‘Our staff and volunteers have undertaken huge improvement works to tern habitats at the reserve in the last few years. As a result, we have increased our colonies of common and little terns, making this one of the best breeding grounds for the species in the South East,’ warden Ivan Lang said. Coravin Wine Preservation System Promoted by Coravin ‘We are delighted that the works are attracting new species to the area. It will be interesting to see if the American Royal sticks around.’ Currently home to over 55 breeding pairs of terns, the reserve hopes to continue its success in restoring population numbers of rare little terns. At last count, there were 19 little tern, 12 common tern and 24 Sandwich tern nests - making it a great place to watch fluffy chicks grow and fledge.

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