Robin at Mere Sands Wood Reserve.

I had to be down in Lancashire for a meeting starting at 10:30 so it was an early start.  Fortunately the M6 was running smoothly and the run down went easily.  After the meeting and lunch as the weather was good I decided to treat myself to a visit to the reserve which is only a few miles down the road from regional headquarters.

Being the height of the breeding season there weren't a lot of water fowl in position for good shots, so I contented myself with this shot of a Robin which had chosen to sit on one of the benches I was thinking of having a sit on to wait and see what emerged.

The highlight of the visit however I was unable to record photographically.  While in one of the hides I noticed a Tern patrolling over the mere.  Getting the binoculars on to it I realised it was a bird new to me, one I had never seen before.  As it turned (no pun intended) in the air I saw it had black under parts - not usual on a tern.  Closer examination showed it had a black head and the upper surfaces of the wings were a darker grey than I would expect on our usual terns.  Decision - Black Tern.

Black Terns are regular but not common migrants through the UK.  During the 4 years of the BTO Bird Atlas they were recorded less than 400 times.  Being from the Marsh Tern group the habitat of an inland mere wasn't too unusual.