Sandwich Terns at Rye Harbour
The history of Sandwich Terns in Rye Bay has been up and down, nesting at Dungeness from 1978 and at Rye Harbour from 1986. They deserted Dungeness after 1997, perhaps due to Badger predation and increasing pressure from Herring Gulls. In some years they have deserted both sites and we thought they may have nested near Calais.
Graph below shows number of pairs nesting at Rye Harbour (red) and Dungeness (blue) 1970-2023
Last year and this, there have been reports of very high mortality at some colonies due to Bird Flu, so the pre-flu UK population of 11,000 pairs will now be much lower.
This year a group of 78 pairs of Sandwich Terns settled on an island out from the Crittall Hide, but were not very visible. So on 23rd May we sent up a drone and stayed high, above 200 feet to spy on them and we counted 78 adults on nests. This very synchronized group did well, but a later group of about 20 pairs was not successful.
Part of the Sandwich Tern colony - showing 15 terns and 8 gulls
The main group hatched in late May and brought in plenty of small fish from the sea – the adults can go 25 km on a fishing trip – and the colony was able to fight off most attacks by larger gulls and most importantly the electric fences kept out Fox and Badger effectively.
As about 100 chicks got close to fledging the colony moved around Ternery Pool and for a couple of weeks from 25th June many were just in front of the Crittall Hide.
Some of the adult terns were ringed elsewhere. Colour rings were easy to read with binoculars, but the smaller rings were a real challenge to read, requiring photographs all around the ring to work out the unique identity. This was at the limits of our equipment and eyes, but we had a few successes which show how our birds spend time in other countries. Then on 9th July most of the colony relocated to the middle of the Flat Beach area with no hope of seeing more rings.
By now they are on their way south to winter along the African coast. We can only hope that Bird Flu does not cause further declines in their population.
Ringed Sandwich Terns seen at Rye Harbour in 2023
26th June – White 320 was ringed as a chick on 7th June 2021 at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex.
28th June – VO4696 – ringed as adult at Viborg, Denmark, 26 July 2018.
30th June - Green 4N5 was ringed as a chick on 15th June 2021 on Strangford Lough, Co.Down, Northern Ireland.
Right leg white 354 was ringed as a chick in June 2021 at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex - reported by Dave Rowlands.
2nd July - 6T74361 – was seen with a fledged chick. The adult was ringed on 6th June 2001 as a chick at Zeebrugge, Belgium.
A ring with CAPE written could not be completely read, but was probably South Africa.
5th July - Metal ring NL1 986 was an adult with a chick. It was ringed as a chick on 25th June 2013 in Zuid-Holland. It had previously seen at at Rye Harbour on 28 April 2019.
White 301 was ringed as a chick on 24th June 2021 at Pagham Harbour in West Sussex
6th July - White 301 as 5th
Dark blue dark blue J3.A - no information yet
8th July - Green 3H8 was ringed as a chick on 17th June 2021 at Larne Lough, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. This bird was previously resighted in Merseyside, UK in July 2021 but has not been sighted again since.
White J8.P was ringed as a chick on 10th June 2021 at Zuid Holland, NL and was seen in July and August at other Dutch sites, then in Devon in September 2022 and back in Holland this June.
NL1 986 as on 5th.
left red NN4 – no information yet.
DK84424 with chick – ringed on 23 July 2004 as an adult at Teesmouth, Stockton-on-Tees.
1439659 Arnhem HOLLAND – see photo below - no information yet.
To find out more about Sandwich Terns look at
https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/sandwich-tern