It's Raining Arctic Terns

 It's been a strange sort of day marked by the passing of Pope Francis. I'm not a religious man but he seemed to serve with humility and humanity, admirable traits that certain other leaders would do well to learn. Any lingering sadness that I may have felt was soon dispelled by Leeds United gaining promotion to the Premier League, as a long term sufferer or should that be fan it was great to witness a little success for a change. In between these momentous events I managed to squeeze a little birding in despite the typically wet bank holiday weather.

Arctic Tern

Early bird reports suggested that Arctic Terns were on the move and Alan Shorrock  and I braved the downpour to visit Eyebrook. We began our birding overlooking Sam's Dyke from where I saw my first House Martin of the year and also noted a Yellow Wagtail. A stop at the island bunker was marked by hearing my first Lesser Whitethroat of 2025 singing, two Common Terns were present in the general area too. From here we moved up to the sharp end where a drake Goosander was seen flying down the res. Five Arctic Terns were seen flying around the tern rafts while several Swifts were also observed. Shozzer's car then refused to start but a jump start from a fellow birder helped us to avert disaster. We had time to see a large flock of Arctics arrive off Stoke Dry before we left. The rain stopped soon after we left but by that time we were sitting in the Samuel Lloyd and the weather was no longer an issue.