A Caspian Tern at Dungeness

5th July 2026

As I was in Kent it would be rude not to try my luck with the Caspian Tern at Dungeness. Since its arrival it has been fishing around the Denge Marsh area and then resting at the Northern end of Burrowes Pit, so the best plan seemed to be to sit in Dennis' Hide and wait for it to return if it was not already there.

Apparently it had flown off about an hour previously so had to wait about half an hour or so, but then the call went up "CASPIAN TERN". The bird had flown in from the East so unfortunately didn't have far  to fly before landing on its favourite island. Luckily I managed to grab a couple of shots before it landed. Just look at the size of that bill!!!

Once landed the main problem from a photography point of view was the horrendous heat haze due to the heatwave and the island being 150 yards away, so these are the best I could manage.

Still at least I saw it and only my second Caspian Tern, the first being at Lackford Lakes in the early 1990s.