Easily the most interesting bird of the morning session at Ferry Meadows CP, was a Common Tern. It is reasonably late for a Common Tern, anyhow, with the adults and juveniles largely having gone south. This bird, however, landed on a nearby buoy and revealed itself to be a first-summer bird. By that I mean it is about a year old, hatched in 2019, and it is a relatively unusual age grouping in the country, with most birds of that age staying in the wintering grounds (eg along the coast of subsaharan Africa). The reason I think it is a first-summer is a combination of the blackish bill, whitish forehead and the pattern of the wing. The very worn wing has the dark panel in the coverts of the forewing, but also a trace of the dark panel in the secondaries (ie near the trailing edge of the inner wing), retained from the juvenile plumage. It was an interesting bird, anyhow…
Later in the day, I took a cycle down the Nene Washes, looking for three Cattle Egrets which had been seen there. I eventually found them, as well as three feeding Hobbies (including the juvenile below) and a Great White Egret.
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