10/05/21 - Returning Common Terns

We're delighted to announce that the first pair of Common Terns have returned to the Lower Derwent Valley for another year – arriving during the last weekend in April. Common Terns used to be a regular spring passage migrant to the reserve with occasional, but unsuccessful breeding attempts, however, thanks to a generous private donation to the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley in 2017, two tern rafts were provided which resulted in the first successful breeding attempt for the site, with a single pair raising two young. Since then, and with an additional two tern rafts being provided, a total of 15 young have been reared and ringed on the reserve. 

From these colour-ringed birds we have had two subsequent re-sightings – a bird returning in its first summer to Lancashire, with the other seen during its first winter off the coast of The Gambia, Western Africa (pictured below) - amazing to think these birds cover such huge distances during the year and return every spring back to the rafts in the Lower Derwent – fingers crossed for another successful year.