Little tern creche at The Kench

After getting over the trauma of Jacob realising the basic properties of helium via losing his balloon ('baoon')to the skies, we pack up my paniers and cycle over to Hayling. 

The kench is part of langstone Harbour and is quickly reached from the ferry.  It offers seclusion and shelter from the sea and yet still is the sea but less busy and affords great views of the South Downs in the north.

Immediately i noticed through my bins (that i had convieniently had taken) terns.  Sandwich, common, poss. arctic and the fantastic, feisty and noisy little tern.  I first encountered these birds at farlington and then properly at the oysterbeds.  The latter was as traumatic as the 'boy's' balloon incident.  Black-headed gulls have a penchant for little tern chicks and i have seen these blighters swoop down take said chick, dunk it in the briney drowning it then swallowing it.  Subsequently, for a variety of reasons little terns, who migrate as far as many of our passerines and are as fragile as any other small bird, have failed to have any birds survive their breeding seasons here.  This irks me slightly.  It is like inviting esteemed guests over for a meal only to have track suit-bottomed baseball capped chavs ruin the party.

Or am i thinking again?

All around the little lagoon area of The Kench are little terns, bright yellow bills and little neat black caps.  Such a great sight.  Then i notice interesting behaviour.  On a little spit are a number of little terns, flighty, circling and landing at the end of the shingle shoreline.  On closer inspection these birds have speckled wing colourings and no bill colour.  Juveniles!  Ten!  Then an adult bird screeched over landing witha small fish and atracting the attention of its obvious fledglings and before they grab said fish the adult, teasingly, flies off and drops the dead fish in the water.  The fledglings flew over and collected fish from the water.  Meaning the bird had been taught by it's parent the food if from the ocean and from the neak anymore.  Learnt behaviour.  Genius!  I was amongst a little tern creche - what a privilege.  I stay for as long as i feel comfortable not wishing to disturb nature and crawl back along the spit.

If i had a HD digital camera i could have made a documentary on the event.  Exhilarating, ultimately satisfying as ten extra birds will be returning to Africa without being bothered by chavs!

I did to have a camera but it was only my pocket fuji - please excuse.

There are ten juvenile little terns here honest .  If i only had my Nikon.