Roseate Terns - Coquet Island

This is a post I wrote some time ago, but it got lost in the cloud. I thought I'd post it now to remind me of some good summer birding. Hope you enjoy it too.

On my way to the Farne Islands in the Summer I made a special visit to Amble in Northumberland. From there I could take a boat out to Coquet Island to see the UK's only breeding colony of Roseate Terns. These terns have a really nice pink tinged breast. I've only ever seen them here, so when I head to the north east in the summer, I can't leave them out.

We have 3 types of Tern in this picture along with the Puffins. The largest Tern, front left, is a Sandwich Tern, while the two smaller birds to the right of this with black bills are the Roseate Terns. The others that you can see with orange bills are Arctic Terns.

There were plenty of seals around our boat around the island.

Roseate Tern - Coquet Island

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Roseate Tern was a pretty certain life tick at Coquet, and so it proved. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best day for light and it with the boat moving up and down so much with the swell, it proved quite difficult to get any really good shots, but I was quite happy with what I did get. It at least leaves something to improve upon, as I intend to go back next year.
In summer, the adults underparts have a very nice pink tinge to them.This is where they get their name. That unfortunately is not clearly visible in any of my shots.

It can be seen slightly, if you look very closely at this first one. The two birds in the picture are both Roseate Terns. The bird on the right has a slightly more visible pinkish tinge to it's front. It's certainly not bright white.

Here in flight it is even less visible, but what stunning birds. So sad that there were only around 90 pairs (representing 90% of the UK's nesting population) on Coquet. Fingers crossed they had a productive breeding season.