Terns and gulls

This evening I've been helping out with some of these cute little fellows

Common Tern chick

Mark is running a project to study the Common Terns at Broom gravel pits. Tonight he made the third visit of the spring to Cocks Island (the 'Pea' prefix has mysteriously fallen off the sign). The tern chicks were fitted with unique combinations of three colour-rings, so Mark will be able to monitor where individual birds end up. We also metal-ringed the Black-headed Gull chicks.

It almost looks like a tropical island...

After we'd finished with the gulls and terns, we tried for some roosting Sand Martins.

It all looked so promising, with hundreds of birds swirling around above the reeds. Eventually they swooped down. As we made our way through the vegetation to the two nets, we didn't know what we'd see - it could have been no birds, or nets full of birds.

It was the former. Never mind.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640