A Common Tern Loses Its Lunch at Fishers Green

5th July 2021

It's that quiet time of the year and didn't want to travel too far,  so a trip to Fishers Green seemed to fit the bill.  On our last visit in the spring the air was full of bird song, but today the only bird that serenaded us and put in an appearance was a male Blackcap close to the picnic area.

On the flood relief channel a Great Crested Grebe was lurking in the shadows, possibly close to its nest and at the viewpoint a large collection of wildfowl had gathered hoping for some crumbs such as this Mallard, and also several juvenile Black-headed Gulls that had fledged from the nearby tern rafts.

At that point there was a commotion above our heads and it was soon clear that a Common Tern carrying a small perch was being harassed by a Black-headed Gull which fancied its lunch.

The gull eventually got its bill on the fish and so the battle commenced.

After a few seconds the tern was losing its grip on the fish............

...............and eventually the inevitable happened and the tern was left without its lunch.

This couldn't have happened 15 years ago as it was only in the early 2000s that Black-headed Gulls started breeding in the Lea Valley, and up to then the Common Terns had the tern rafts all to themselves.