The Sooty Tern at Minsmere and Sizewell: John Grant

Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus at RSPB Minsmere and Sizewell, Suffolk, July 8th 2020

John Grant

i freely admit it. Blasphemous as it may sound, the irresistible attraction for rSPB Minsmere that i’ve felt for 45 years or so was starting to wear a bit thin by the start of July 2020. the coronavirus lockdown was drastically reducing the camaraderie shared by locals and visitors alike, drought conditions were taking their toll, a seemingly year-on-year decline in once-common species was a continuing concern and there were precious few surprise birds to lift the spirits. i try not to take any of the reserve’s undoubted treasures for granted, but even so i admit that my virtually daily trudges around the Scrape were starting to feel a bit samey.

However, on July 8th, things exploded into a frenzied fireball of excitement.

At 11.07hr, during a pleasant chat on the public viewing platform overlooking the reserve’s South Scrape with visitors Jim and Jeanne collinson, from Nottinghamshire, i noticed a bird flying towards us from near the ruins of the old Leiston Abbey. it simply did not add up. its rakish silhouette and consummate grace reminded me of a Long-tailed Skua Stercorarius longicaudus , but i could see a white forehead, white underwing surfaces and a white breast. Above South Hide the bird jinked eastwards and flew above the South Scrape fence line towards Minsmere Sluice. the penny dropped. it was a tern. With very dark upperparts. Surely not? Surely it couldn’t be? But it was!

At this range and with these views i erred on the side of caution (Bridled O. anaethetus or Sooty, although i strongly suspected the latter) but Jim and Jeanne probably didn’t think much caution was being exhibited when i shouted to them that they must, just must, get onto this bird. they did indeed and jaws dropped as it lost height and skimmed over the sluice and turned south to head towards Sizewell.

Many years ago, while seawatching alone at Southwold, i saw what i am still 99% convinced was a frustratingly-distant southbound Bridled tern. i wasn’t confident enough to submit that one – it remains one that got away – and i feared i might well suffer the same fate with this bird.

A few minutes before this current bombshell event, robin Harvey and Nick forster of the rSPB’s Minsmere team had joined us briefly on the platform, but had now left. i tried to phone robin – no reply. i contacted Adam rowlands, the rSPB’s Suffolk manager, and my great friend richard Drew who lives nearby and breathlessly explained to both what had just transpired. i messaged the local clubbers Nature News WhatsApp group, of which i am a member, to sound the alarm and suggest that Sizewell might be worth a visit. Straight away!

A run, or stagger, back to the Minsmere car park – via the toilets thanks to a badly timed but desperately urgent requirement – was followed by a short but stress-filled drive to Sizewell. A check of the phone on arrival and bingo! richard had messaged clubbers to say it was indeed a Sooty tern and it was flying around the old Sizewell A nuclear power station’s disused inflow and outflow rigs just offshore. for about 100 birders who converged on Sizewell with impressive speed, this exquisite bird put on a spell-binding performance. it somewhat incongruously landed several times on the ugly, rusting, rigs which are covered in breeding kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla. it even called loudly and gratingly a few times. its Long-tailed Skua-like appearance and stunning, stark, black-andwhite beauty was remarked upon by several observers before it flew off south and was lost to view just before 13.00hr. for the late-arriving birders there were the usual slightly embarrassed commiserations but for some their disappointment was perhaps offset by the excellent and cleverly-named Sizewell tea cafe offering “Sooty Special” bacon baps and chips at £5 a time! for me, all those spring hours at Minsmere, that seemed a little samey, were rewarded. i shall

not be doing any Victor Meldrew grumpiness again for a while. the flame of love is rekindled. the passion that never really went away, but just simply subsided a little, is burning as brightly as ever.

Description (see photograph)

in size, the Sooty tern was appreciably larger than common tern Sterna hirundo, with which it was seen in close company. indeed, it seemed only a little smaller than the numerous kittiwakes that nest on both rigs. it could be picked out easily, even with the naked eye, when it visited the nearer rig, due to its size, rakish outline and black upperparts. the forecrown was pure white, with very short white supercilia extending to a point just above the eyes, but the area between the eyes and the base of the bill was black. crown, nape, mantle and upperwing surfaces were uniform black, perhaps very slightly more jet black on the crown and nape. Almost imperceptible were the very thin white leading edges of the wing ‘arms’ – a feature that i have noticed more in photographs of the bird than i did in the field! the deeply-forked tail was also black but the longest, outer, tail feathers were white, save for their greyish distal inner webs. the underwing surfaces showed marked contrast between the blackish primaries, greyish secondaries forming an obvious trailing edge, and the white underwing coverts. the bird’s underparts were pure, gleaming white. the bill appeared entirely black and was about as long as the distance between its base and the bird’s nape. When the bird was at rest on top of the closer-to-shore rig, the rather long legs could be seen clearly and appeared dark greyish. to the end of 2019 there have been 22 British records of Sooty tern. it breeds on oceanic islands in the tropical regions of the indian and Pacific oceans, throughout the caribbean and the southern region of the red Sea (Brit. Birds 113:608) this constitutes Suffolk’s fourth record of the species, and the third for rSPB Minsmere. the previous records are: 1900 – moribund, Santon Downham, late March/early April 1966 – Minsmere, June 11th 1976 – Minsmere, August 3rd