Elegant Tern in Kerry

On Friday the 13^th of September 2013, dad asked me had I seen the ‘Red Alert’ as they used to be called on Irish Birding… I hadn’t. Davey Farrar had just found an Orange-billed Tern sp. on Beale Strand in Kerry. At the time I was in 2^nd Year and the school had only just resumed a couple of weeks. I always wished our ‘summer’ holidays could have started, instead of ending in August. Later that evening the Tern was confirmed as an Elegant Tern and lovely images went up online which were taken by Ian Jones.

Dad wasn’t off work until the following weekend and after a lot of pleading, he finally gave in and said that if it was reported on the following Friday we could go on the Saturday. The next week at school was one of the longest most drawn-out weeks of my life. Every evening I would run home to the laptop and check Irish Birding, praying that the Tern had been reported. Most days there were reports of it however there was a couple of blank days which had me worried. Beale was approximately 4.5 hours from home and would be the longest distance twitch I had to date.

On Friday the 20^th, Keith Langdon threw a spanner in the works, he had relocated the Tern to the Clare side of the Shannon, on hearing this I was slightly apprehensive on whether twitching a highly mobile bird was a wise decision. Thankfully though, Conor Foley had it on Beale Strand again that evening. Twitch on!

Dad and I headed off around 8 am. It’s only in the last few years I realise how late we set off! Usually, we would be arriving on-site by 8 am or earlier! We stopped off along the way to check if the Tern had been reported, which it hadn’t. We took a punt and headed for Beale. Having not had a sat-nav at the time we ended up having to ask for directions as we got nearer the beach, but we eventually ended up at the right place in one piece! Before we had even got out of the car, I could see a birder with a scope a long way down the beach, but they didn’t seem to be watching anything. It was Dad who picked up the Tern flock down on the tideline. My heart started to race as I slowly panned through the mixed tern flock. As I got towards the end of the flock, a preening Tern lifted its head to show a long, orange bill! Elation! My 199^th Irish bird and only the 6^th for Ireland.

Ropey record shot of the Elegant Tern.

We had the Elegant Tern almost instantly! I was delighted. The Tern showed very well however we were still quite some distance away. We slowly walked down the beach and had nice views of the Tern as it roosted on a sandbar on the rising tide. The tide eventually covered the sandbar and the Terns dispersed down the beach and out into the bay. We probably only had it for five minutes before it flew off. The birder, Geoff Hunt eventually arrived up to us after we had signalled to him, but he just missed it.

We walked down the beach again scanning at every chance. A dark-morph Arctic Skua gave some Sandwich Terns a bit of hassle off-shore before getting fed up and landing on the beach affording nice views. With the tide rushing in, we thought the best thing to do would be to head back to the car park and scan again. Walking back to the car, I managed to pick the Elegant Tern up in flight as it tagged along with a small flock of Sandwich Terns! Geoff managed to get on it too, which were his first views of the species. We watched it land at close range and this is where we had excellent views. Dad managed some ropey record shots with the camera through the scope. Better than nothing! Just as we had had our fill of it, the Elegant Tern, got up and flew miles out into the bay to feed and was probably viewable from Carraigaholt, where Keith Langdon had picked it up the previous day!

Dad and I headed across the Shannon where we picked up the adult American Golden Plover at Kilkee, Co. Clare which was found a few days previous by Killian Mullarney. We had excellent views, as it loosely associated with a small flock of Turnstones. This was my long-awaited 200^th Irish bird. This was a massive landmark for me at the time and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I have seen quite a few AGP’s since and I’ll probably see quite a few more, however, I will never forget this one as it meant so much to me at the time.

200 for Ireland! American Golden Plover at Kilkee, Co. Clare

That night we stayed near Kilbaha, where we saw the news of the Wilson’s Warbler on Dursey Island, however, a twitch for this certainly wasn’t on the cards! Will I ever get a chance at Wilson’s Warbler again? I’m optimistic anyway! The following morning, we had a quiet seawatch off the Bridges of Ross and had one more quick look at the American Golden Plover, before heading home. None of my friends knew I was a birder, and I vividly remember the following day at school being asked by one of the lads what I did over the weekend, which I replied: “f*ck all, you?”. If only they knew!