The hunt for the Elegant tern - Part 3, return to Hightown

So the elegant tern is now obviously nailed on and all you have to do is turn up at Hightown to see it right? It's not quite that simple.

I arrived today at 10am ahead of the advancing high tide at 10:38 and joined a group of about four birders by the yacht club. Almost immediately somebody shouted out "I've got it!". There was relief in his voice because apparently this was the first time it had been seen since around 6am. For a minute or two I tried to get onto the bird which as usual was in the middle of the Sandwich tern flock, but couldn't and then they all flew briefly before landing again and we had to start the search all over again. I decided to head down the beach to a closer vantage point. 

Down on the beach there was no shelter from the wind and viewing was very difficult. It wasn't just that the scope was shaking, even worse, most of the birds were over 200m away and were facing into the wind and had their backs to us. Probably 30% of the flock also had their heads tucked in asleep.

I met a couple of other birders on the beach and they said that they hadn't seen it. I set my scope up and the first bird I saw was the elegant tern. Unfortunately I just couldn't get the others onto it and after 30 seconds I lost it in the middle of a mass of other terns. Perhaps it had gone to sleep rendering that amazing bill obsolete as an identification aid, I don't know, but it just disappeared. 

I continued down the beach to a concrete jetty and used it as shelter. I'd barely set myself up here when John Tymon arrived from nowhere and stood with me. Now it was John's turn to immediately spot the bird and after getting me onto it, we watched it for a minute before it again disappeared. All too brief but this had been a really nice view of the tern displaying, walking around with wings slightly spread and calling while throwing it's head back. Fifteen hours for me to find it, 15 seconds for John! That's how it goes sometimes. Mind you it helps if you're looking in the right place!

We saw the bird perhaps twice more over the next 30 minutes but each time for only a few seconds before it was either lost in the flock or they all flew around briefly and we had to start again. The shaking tripod was a real problem and in the end we just gave up. It was now about 1pm and the tide was rapidly receding and many birds were just too far away for us to have any real hope of finding the elegant tern. Still, I think we were very lucky. Apart from the bloke who found it when I first arrived and a couple of others with him, none of the other birders I spoke to today managed to see the tern and it wasn't reported again until 8pm. It's still not easy.

The elegant tern was my 276th species in Merseyside (which includes North Wirral) and my 304th species in Lancashire (which obviously doesn't include North Wirral). 

Thanks to John Tymon for the use of the photo above.

Go on then, pick out the elegant tern from that lot in a force 5. 

The next few days should be interesting. Today it was a 7.6m high tide, but by Tuesday it will be 9.2m, which I would expect to cover all of the beach. I just wonder where the terns will go then. Usually Ainsdale I think, but they don't seem to have been there much this year so far. Hilbre perhaps?